Leaf's Shinigami (Remake)
by TheLivingMyth
Summary: When did my life began began to get better? Was it when I became a Shinigami, or first stepped into Soul Society? Was it when I first came into this world so much different than my own? Or was it when I defeated my greatest enemy I could ever think of? *Sigh* It doesn't matter anymore. All that matters is that, in the end...I managed to protect them all. Ichigo x Harem (No Lemons)
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everybody! Animelover54321, here with the first chapter for the _Leaf's Shinigami (Remake)_ , I'm proud to bring back this story with better writing, more details, and hopefully it'll be more entertaining than the last one. I'm glad to have this, and I'm glad that a select few of you stayed with me since even when I decided to start over. So yeah, I hope this first chapter will boost your expectations, and if not...well I don't know. XD**

 **So anyways, without further interruptions!**

 **Enjoy the chapter**

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 _When did my life began began to get better? Was it when I became a Shinigami, or first stepped into Soul Society? Was it when I first came into this world so much different than my own? Or was it when I defeated my greatest enemy I could ever think of? *Sigh* It doesn't matter anymore. All that matters is that, in the end...I managed to protect them all._

 _My name is Kurosaki Ichigo, and this...is my story_

* * *

Minato stood as he clutched his son, Naruto, upon his chest. He glared at the giant fox that stood in it's massive glory, the way it glared down at him as if he was sucking his soul out by his gaze alone. But today wasn't the demons day. For it was now time for him to be sealed once more, but at the cost of using his son. The one he regretted on doing the most out of all. He remembered how this day slowly began to change into a nightmare they never wished could exist.

It all happened too fast for him, he was just with his wife Kushina as she passed through labor. Then all of a sudden, a masked man came and took his son, his 'Naruto'! He remembered it as if it was a few seconds ago. How the intruder threw his child in the air carelessly, attempting to kill him with a Kunai. However, he managed to save him before it could happen, only for his wife to be kidnapped instead.

After that terrible loss, he went out in search for her, taking his son with him with the risk of him being put in harms way. He remembered thinking to himself, that if he and Kushina were meant to die here, in this cold night. Then he won't allow her to die without holding their child just once, to feel him as he snuggled into her chest for warmth and protection a mother always has.

He remembered finding Kushina chained up with the Kyuubi released from the seal unleashing its wrath upon his village, his home. The place he swore to protect to the best of his ability as Hokage. How he remembered battling that masked man and barely besting him in the end of their battle. How he saw the tears flow from her wife's eye's. Those tears that shattered him into so many pieces that he could never hope to collect them again.

No, that's why he had to do this. With his wife being unconscious about a mile distance away from them as she couldn't stay awake. After all, she just passed through labor and just had the Kyuubi extracted from her body. So it was no surprise that she was asleep.

Minato chuckled as he gazed down at Naruto for what may be the last time in his life. "Sorry Naruto, I never thought that it would turn out like this. And if you grow up hating me...well, then I don't blame you for it. Probably you will understand when you are suddenly put in a position like this in the future." Minato sighed as tears began to build up in his eye's. "I'm sorry that I couldn't say anything more...'father like' right now since...well, we're being glared at by a giant beast that's trying to kill me with his eye's." He lightly chuckled before he resumed talking. "But...yeah, take care of your mother and look out for her. She'll need you the most right now. So...yeah. I love you so very much."

With that he placed Naruto down on a small looking carrage that was surrounded by eight candles before performing a sealing jutsu. "Shiki Fujin!"

 _With Ichigo_

Thing's weren't going as he thought they were. The last thing he remembered before waking up in this forest filled with tree's that should probably not exist in Japan, was him unleashing his final attack, 'Mugetsu', upon his opponent Aizen. And everything after that was just a white blank. So what was the first thing he did when he got up, oh I'll tell you.

"WHERE THE HELL AM I!" He screamed to the heavens above if they could ever hear him. He was about to start cutting and crushing the forest around him before he noticed something. A man laying next to a baby, his body not moving at all which he assumed that he was either sleeping, or he was dead. "Um, excuse me?" Ichigo spoke as he made his way over to the two. When he didn't receive a reply, he continued his approach. Pretty soon he face palmed himself for not thinking clearly. "Why would I try to talk to them." He spoke to no one in particular. "After all, they can't hear me, nor see me either."

As if on cue, he heard the blond man muttered something softly, but it was loud enough for him to hear. "Can't a man die in peace around here?"

Ichigo seemed startled for a second at the unexpected voice. "Wait, you can hear and see me?"

Minato chuckled before replying. "Well I can hear you." He weakly turned his gaze to meet the man he was speaking with. "Seeing you however, is a bit blurry in my point of view. Probably because I'm slowly dying." He thought the last sentence to himself.

Ichigo crossed his arms before nodding, accepting the answer he recieved. "Well, I'm sorry to bother you sir, but if can you tell me where I'm currently located, that'll be great."

"You're right outside the gates of Konohagakure."

Ichigo seemed puzzled, after all he has never heard of a place called Konohagakure in Japan before. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what or where that place is." He replied while raising an eyebrow.

"Then tell me." Minato weakly spoke. "Where is your home?"

"I'm from Karakura Town, which is located in Japan."

Minato began to think, but it was cut off as he felt an unbearable pain flow throughout his body. He began to cough up blood worrying Ichigo.

"Oi, are you alright?!" He spoke as he dropped to his knees next to the Minato.

"It seems that I don't have much time left." He cringed in pain as he coughed more blood.

"Time left for what? What's happening to you?!" Ichigo couldn't help but worry for the man he was speaking to, even if they just met a few minutes

"No time for an explanation." He responded. "I need to ask you a favor."

"Sure, fine anything." He replied with concern.

"Now, I know that we don't know eachother much. But you seem like a trustworthy and honest guy." He gulped before he finally spoke. "I need you to look after my family for me. The villagers, they will treat my son as an outcast if they figure out what's inside him. Please, keep him and my wife safe until they're well enough to take care of themselves."

Ichigo wanted to decline, he has problems of his own right now for kami's sake. He had to get home and check if his family and friends are safe, but something stopped him. It was as if his mind was saying that it's useless and impossible to get back now. But why?

"I promise." He suddenly replied, the words slipping out of his mouth before he can even think of them.

"Thank you." Minato spoke before he weakly turned his head to face his son, Naruto, who was still sleeping even after all of the commotion they went through. With that, he closed his eyes and let his aching body slowly shut down, forever and eternally putting him into a deep slumber.

Ichigo sighed as he stood up, staring at the now unmoving corpse laying in front of him. "I still have so many questions that hasn't been answered." He thought. "Where the hell ami I? But I guess that ca wait for now." He looked at Naruto before he picked him up. "He hasn't told me either his or his child's names. Hopefully I can find his mother soon."

With that, Ichigo left the area heading towards the village he remembered the man speaking about. He'll remember to inform any high ranking member about the corpse. After all... no one deserves to be left rotting away in the open, no matter who or what they are.

 _A few minutes later_

After walking in the stange looking forest for awhile, Ichigo found himself staring at a massive gate that was left opened and unprotected. At first, was about to question the poor security this village has, but then he soon spotted that there was countless of black smoke rising above the gates on the other side. The only option left in his head was that they were under attack recently, and the damage they received was unimaginable.

Ichigo began to make his way towards the gates, and the closer he got, the more he began to hear. The anguishing cries that filled the air was unbearable to hear. He finally made passed the gates, and the sight that greeted him, was inconceivable. His entire vision was filled with villagers in tears as they cried over loved ones who were killed during the horrendous night. They were squashed, sliced, beheaded, stabbed, or any other terrible and unpleasant way to die.

"Oh my god." Ichigo muttered as he walked on. His stomach twisted as he felt that he was about to vomit any second now. A little girl was wandering around crying and calling out for her mother. What seemed to be the military of this village was desperately trying to control the situation, with countless of civilians yelling at them in fear and confusion at where their missing relatives or friends were.

Yes, it was definitely a gruesome sight to take in. Ichigo quickly turned into an alley before planting his back on the wall. His breathing was heavy as a few drops of sweat slid down his face. He doesn't want to be here, the image's that he saw was quickly compared to his home Karakura Town, his heart began to beat faster as he thought about the situation back home, if it was fine or just as bad as the place he was currently standing in.

"I got to get this done fast." He thought to himself as began to quickly move across the streets. Trying his best to ignore the pleading and desperate cries he received or heard. It came to a point where it just became too much, his ears were filled with replaying echoes in his head, it made him feel dizzy and just wanted to collapse and faint.

A hand was placed on his shoulder which seemed to snap him out of his dizziness.

"Oi! Are you alright?!" A man with spiky gravity grey colored hair spoke. He had a mask covering his face with what his headband covering his left eye.

Ichigo nodded as he held his head, he soon realized that the grip he had around the child was very weak, so he pulled himself back together and tightened back his grip on the child.

"Good, come follow me." The man spoke as he began jogging, leading them away from all of the chaos.

"Where are we headed?" He questioned as he kept a steady pace behind the man he was following.

"We're getting you out of this intoxicating area." The moment he said that, the cries began to grow softer before they weren't able to be heard anymore. "We send our Shinobi here when they get all confused and put under a lot of pressure to ease their minds before rejoining us."

Ichigo had a puzzled expression at the mention of 'Shinobi', but he decided not to question about it. "Thanks, I really needed that."

"I know you did, you seemed like you were about to pass out any second."

Ichigo chuckled at his statement before speaking. "So, I was kind of wondering where your hospital is located, or any type of medical center. Since I'm actually new in town."

"Did you just arrive today?"

"Yeah, I actually need to take my." Ichigo paused for a second as he glanced at the child he was holding. "...little...brother, yeah little brother, to have a check up. I'm afraid that he might have a fever." He lied.

"Sure." The man replied before gesturing down an alley. "Take this street to the left, from their you keep walking until you pass four blocks and then take a right. You should see the building after you walk that path a few minutes."

"Thanks." Ichigo bowed slightly before taking off, he came to a stop as he remembered something important. "Oi!" Ichigo turned around, speaking with the man once more.

"Yes?"

"Before I arrived here, there was a blond guy just a few minutes south of here that died recently. He seemed to be part of this village, and I was wondering if you can go retrieve his corpse before any scavengers try to pick his body clean."

The man took a second to think before nodding. "Yeah, thanks for the information. I'll see if I can send a team to retrieve his body."

Ichigo nodded before he turned and left the area.

 _A few hours later, 3:00 P.M, hospital_

Ichigo sat in a thinking position as he thought about his situation right now, the way the village looked, the sort of medieval looking texture some of the buildings had. The clothing the citizens around here wore. But most of all, the location of this area, he finds it weird that this place has never been heard of in Japan, even though they speak Japanese. Which means they're somewhere located in Japan...right?

Ichigo growled as he scratched his head in frustration, so many questions yet so little answers will be presented to him.

He looked over at the nurse who was checking Naruto for any infections or injuries, and once and awhile he found himself catching her staring at him. That is until she turned away with a noticeable blush on her face as she resumed her work.

After a few more minutes the nurse finished up and reported to Ichigo that the baby is fine and healthy, but insisted that he wait for a doctor to show up and say the final word just in case she missed something.

Ichigo nodded, accepting and following her request. He watched as she left towards the door and opens it, only to see that her expression turned into surprise at seeing someone standing at the other side.

"Hokage-sama?! What are you doing here?"

The Hokage gave a small and caring smile before replying. "I'm just here to ask your patient a few questions, that is all."

The nurse nodded before stepping out of the way, allowing her to exit the room and close the door behind them in order to give them some privacy.

Ichigo stared at the new person with curiosity, he seems rather old. But judging by the way the Nurse reacted, he can only guess that he is the leader of this village or some type of high ranking member.

"Can I help you?" Ichigo spoke breaking the silence between them.

The Hokage nodded as he took a seat across from him. "Yes, I believe that earlier today you informed one of my Shinobi, 'Hatake Kakashi' about a deceased blond male."

Ichigo nodded in confirmation before he began to grow wary. "If you think I'm the one that killed him then you're looking at the wrong guy."

"No no no, I just wanted to ask you a few questions since that 'man'. You were last with was a very important person to us all."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "And how important is this 'man'?"

The Hokage sighed as he thought of the shortest way to explain this to him without staying in this room for a whole day. "He was...the previous Hokage of this village."

Ichigo seemed confused, after hearing this 'Hokage' a few times already, and wanted to know what that reputations is. "Hokage? What is that?"

"A Hokage is the leader of this village, but there are other Kage's around the Elemental Nations such as the Tsuchikage, Kazekage, Raikage, and the Mizukage, which they all have and must lead their own village."

"Elemental Nations? Kage's? Just what the hell is going on here?" Ichigo thought. "Um, but where is the Elemental Nations located at?" Ichigo spoke which managed to spike the Hokage's curiosity and confusion. "Because, the entire time I studied in school. I've never heard of any other Nations, just the one's located in 7 continents such as, Europe, North America, South America, Antarctica, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Which is sometimes known as Oceania to some of the human population. Is it located in one of these 7 Continents?"

Hiruzen hummed as he thought to himself, but soon he shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I've never heard about any of these, 'Continents', you mentioned. In fact, I'm pretty sure no one in the Elemental Nations knows about them." He looked at Ichigo with concern. "Tell me, are you delusional? Did you have some type of drug affecting you that implanted some false memory's?"

Ichigo's eye twitched, he wanted to yell and scream at the man in front of him for that comment. How dare he say that! Everything he's been through, his family, his friends, his home. All of that is real! He must be the one delusional here, along with this crazy dark aged village he's in!

He was about to start criticizing the old man, but something stopped him. No, it wasn't something, it was someone. It was them.

 **"Ichigo, calm down."** The familiar voice of Zangetsu echoed through his head.

"Zangetsu?!" Ichigo replied in his head. "What? How are you here? I thought you were gone after I used Mugetsu."

 **"I know, I thought I was gone as well. I still don't understand the full concept of why I'm here or how I survived, but that does not matter right now."**

"Wait, but if you're here? Does that mean-"

 **"Yup, still up and kicking king! I knew that you'd never forget me."** The hollow spoke with a smile.

"Well, I meant is my Shinigami powers still with me?"

The hollows smiled faded replace by an annoyed expression. **"Orange haired bastard."** He muttered to himself.

Zangetsu soon replied after glancing at his roommate...well more like soulmate, but in a none gayish or romantic way. **"I believe so, if we're here then that means that your powers are still are with you."** Zangetsu paused before resuming. **"But that's not important right now, I wasn't able to contact you for awhile since your body was really exhausted."**

"I didn't feel tired though."

 **"I know, it's the closest thing I can describe to you right now. It was your severe lack of Reiatsu in you that stopped me from contacting you. At first I thought that you were just exhausted and needed to rest, but after watching you get up and was about to unleash hell on that weird unnatural looking forest back there, I eliminated that thought out of my head."** He sighed to himself for getting off point. **"But no, this is not the time for that. After studying and thinking about the new terrain we landed in, as well as the information we have received. My suspicion's just may be true. But I'm not certain yet. Just keep talking to that man you're speaking with and try to get more information on the world he believes we're in, I'll inform you of the rest soon**."

With that he cut the connection between the two, much to Ichigo's dismay.

The Hokage coughed, bringing his attention back to him.

"Sorry, I was just thinking on your question. And, no. I don't believe I am 'delusional'." He spoke the word with anger yet confusion. "Everything I've been through, all the pain and suffering, yet happy and cherishing moments. They were all just, too real. So no, everything I've learned. I will not think for a second that I'm making this up, or that it's all inside my head."

The Hokage stayed silent for a second before he made a quick motion of his finger, signaling for one of his body guards. In an instant, Ichigo saw someone appear kneeling in front of the Hokage wearing a mask. He would've been startled by this action, but he's seen people move twice as fast before. **(*Cough Yoruichi Cough*)**

"Bring me a copy of the world map." He muttered.

"Hai Hokage-Sama."

He was gone not even a second later before he reappeared again carrying a large piece of paper. He handed it to the Hokage before he bowed and disappeared.

"I thought that we were talking in private." Ichigo questioned with narrowed eye's.

"We are, they can't hear anything we say. But they can see what we do." He handed the paper to Ichigo. "This is the world map, do you see any similar land mass in the paper?"

Ichigo scanned the unrecognizable paper through every inch, none of it was recognizable to him.

"No." He spoke softly as he handed it back. "None of this seems familiar. And judging by the size of land described on this map, you guy's should've been discovered a long time ago." He sighed to himself as his heart began to beat a bit faster. "I don't like the looks of this."

The Hokage nodded before he brought up a different subject. "My apologies for changing the topic, but I need you to answer some questions of mine. Since that was the soul purpose for me coming here."

"Sure." He nodded, wanting nothing more than to get his thoughts somewhere else. "What do you want answered?"

"The previous Hokage, 'Namikaze Minato', did he say anything that may of be any importance to our village?"

"He, told me to watch over his family until they are well enough to take care of themselves. Something about his child being treated as an outcast if his village found out about what's inside him."

The Hokage nodded as he glanced towards the baby that was sleeping peacefully. "So he's the new Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi no Kitsune huh?" He thought before he began to speak again. "I see, anything else he mentioned?"

"I'm afraid not." He replied.

"I see, thank you for your time Ichigo. And, if you wish to know, I know who and where the boy's mother is right now."

Ichigo slightly straightened up at the information. "You do?"

"Yes, she's in this hospital as we speak. But, I wouldn't bother her. She's really exhausted right now and has been asleep for awhile. I don't think she'll get up anytime soon in the conditions she's in unless someone wake her up themselves."

Ichigo smiled in relief as he looked at the sleeping young child next to him before thinking to himself. "Well I know that the mother is alive thankfully, I thought for a second the little on was going to be an orphan." He glanced back towards the Hokage with a thankful smile. "I see, thank you for telling me this Mr..."

"Hiruzen, Sarutobi Hiruzen." The now named Hiruzen smile back. "But you can just call me Sarutobi."

"I see, well thanks Jiji." He replied, not bothering to use the mans name. "The names Kurosaki Ichigo." He spoke, before he remembered about Zangetsu and his suppose 'research' on this terrain.

"So, any ideas on what's going on here Zangetsu?"

 **"Yes, quite a few to be exact."** He sighed knowing that all of his answers to this current situation will not please Ichigo, and he would possibly lose his mind and go ape shit. Then start to get depressed and cry a lot.

"Well, what do you got? And something about you sighing means that I'm definitely not going to like this."

 **"That's because you won't. Now, Ichigo. What I'm going to say may not be true at all, but it's the only possibilities I can think of."** He paused for a second before continuing. **"After everything I've gathered, how that man 'Minato' didn't know anything about Japan or the seven Continents, and the way this village is constructed, the texture, the places we've never heard about-"**

"Just say it already!" Ichigo's eyes twitched in annoyance.

The Hollow jumped in the conversation seeing that it was taking longer than it needs to. **"He's saying that we're either in a different dimension, planet, galaxy, or we've done the impossible and gone back in time! Yadayadayada! There, now don't you dare go ape shit on us!"**

Ichigo stayed silent, his whole body not knowing how he should react right now. It seemed like he is on shut down. It came to a point where he had to leave the area for awhile to think for himself. To let himself know what's happening, that the worst is standing right in front of him. "Say, can you watch him for me while I'm gone." Ichigo spoke gesturing towards the child, trying to act normal throughout the whole time. "Staying in this hospital for hours is really making me go insane, well if that's okay with you that is. You are the leader of this village and you do have responsibilities."

Hiruzen waved his hand side to side. "It's alright, I'm free for a few hours actually. Go on ahead, I'll keep an eye on him."

"Thank you." He made his way to the door, but before he could open it Hiruzen called out to him. "

"Oh and Ichigo!"

Ichigo turned towards the old man with a raised eyebrow, until he caught a small pouch with one hand.

"Get yourself something to eat, you look like you need a break."

Ichigo smiled and nodded before he exited the door, and soon the hospital. When he left the building, he wanted to scream. He wanted to scream so loud that the entire world could hear his desperate cries, that he can't take this nonsense going on in his life. He had so many questions, but the main one was 'why'?

Why him? What did he do to deserve something like this? Is he not good enough, is he a failure? How will his family take this? Are they searching for him right now without a clue on where he's at, everyone he's known in love and rivals. Chad, Uryu, Orihime, Rukia, Renji, Yoruichi, Urahara, Kari- wait.

"Urahara!?" He thought with hope. "He'll find me, it'll only be a matter of time right? After all, that guy is damn smart if he say so himself."

Zangetsu shook his head in pity for his user. **"If only it was that simple."** He thought.

 _A half an hour later_

Ichigo walked down a surprisingly not too crowded street, after all, since what happened last night he expected that the area would still be in a bit of a ruckus. He still continued to think to himself about how he was going to get home. And he's been thinking so much that he's beginning to think, what if he's never getting home? What if he's stuck here forever with no hope on seeing anyone again?

He shook his head getting rid of such thoughts. No, he 'will' get home! No one is getting in his way for that. No one! And if they do, he'll cut them down where they stand before they can inflict anymore damage.

He would've continued his thinking, but someone bumped into him preventing that from happening.

"Ooof!"

He heard a female shriek as he saw the women was falling down holding a child. Reacting quickly he immediately caught her before she could touch the ground. "Got you!" He spoke as he pulled her up.

"Thanks." The women replied with a smile

"Hehe, sorry for that. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and well, you know what happened." Ichigo rubbed his head sheepishly.

The women giggled before she slightly shook her head. "It's alright, I wasn't paying attention either. I was to caught up on taking care of my child." She glanced down at her baby with a warm and caring smile. "They can really make things tough, but it's worth it in the end."

"Really?" He smirked slightly at that. "I can't see that." He looked at the cute looking child. "After all they look so adorable."

"Hehe, just try taking care of one for a day. You'll see what I'm talking about."

"Say, once again I'm really sorry for bumping into you like that, and for that I would like to buy you something to eat as an apology."

"No no, you don't have to do that. I'm quite fine alright."

"No, I insist. Come on, it doesn't have to be much."

The women sighed before she spoke up."You're not going to stop until I say yes huh?"

"Kinda...yeah."

"Alright then, but I would like to know the name of the gentlemen that treats me to lunch." She spoke with a slightly flirtatious tone.

"I'm Kurosaki Ichigo, but please, call me Ichigo."

"I'm Uchiha Mikoto. Nice to meet you Ichigo."

"Likewise."

 _A few minutes later, during lunch_

The two sat at a table getting to know one another. And for Ichigo, he decided to gain an extra bonus to know more about this place and gain her trust. Well, more like respect.

"No, way!" Ichigo spoke with a smile. "She did what?"

"You heard me right, my friend Kushina is a really tough women if I say so myself." Mikoto replied. She was speaking about how he witnessed her friend take down a bunch of boys back in their academy day's for calling her a tomato."

"Aha, well I saw that coming I guess, my mother told me to always treat women with respect, whether they're my age, older, or younger than me." He folded his arms with a faintly sad smile.

"Your mother sounds like a smart women." She spoke as she gently moved her child from side to side.

Ichigo couldn't help but become curious about the child. "So what's his name?"

Mikoto raised her head in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"Your child's name?"

"Ah." Mikoto looked down at her child with warm and caring eyes. "His name's Sasuke."

"Sasuke huh? Not a bad name for a little fella like you huh?" He said as he made googly eye's at him. But he should've realized that the baby was having its nap.

Mikoto giggled at the childish act Ichigo was doing. "I think that work better if he was actually awake right now."

"Eh, worth a shot ya know." He shrugged.

"So, I noticed that you were asking questions about this place. Are you new around town?"

Ichigo nodded in approval as he leaned back on his chair. "Yes, I arrived here last night actually."

"Oh, so where are you from?" She spoke with a slight interest.

"I'm from Kara-" He stopped before he could finish knowing that she wouldn't understand. "Uh, I came from a small town down south. A few miles away from here."

"I see, any family?"

Ichigo twitched at the thought of his family before he shook his head. "No, they uh, died when I was nine." He lied.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I shouldn't have-"

"It's alright, you didn't know so...Yeah." He shook his head before he stood up. "Listen Mikoto, it was nice to have you accompany me for a short while, but I just remembered something I forgot to do." He placed the pouch that Hiruzen gave him on the counter, not bothering to count the correct amount. "Bye!"

Mikoto watched as Ichigo left the area with a confused and concern expression before pouting. "Aw, and he was actually kind of handsome." She shook her head as she began to scold herself. "No Mikoto, you're a happily married women with two children to raise." She thought the word happily that didn't seem convincing to the human ear. "Besides, he seems too young for me." Even though she spoke of many reasons why they can't be together, her heart won't let go of what it wants. And trust me when I say this. Her heart, 'will', get what it wants.

 _Back at the hospital_

Ichigo entered the room he left awhile ago before he gazed around the room, he noticed that the room was empty with neither the baby, nor the Hokage in it. With a confused and slightly worried expression he exited the room and began to fast walk away, searching for the nearest nurse or doctor.

"Excuse me?" Ichigo spoke as he spotted a nurse not to far away from him.

"Yes? How can I help you?"

"Have you seen your Hokage with a child earlier? And if you did, do you know where they've gone?"

The nurse smiled before nodding. "Yes, Hokage-sama left for a council meeting after the child was checked on, he decided to drop him off with his mother before he left."

Ichigo's expression was a wave of relief over his shoulders as he sighed. "Thank you, if you don't mind me asking. Can you tell me where the mother is located?"

"Of course, she's on the fourth floor, just two more floors above this one, her rooms located at the end of the hall way, second to last door. But I suggest that you don't go in right now, the mother is really exhausted and needs her rest."

Ichigo nodded before assuring her that he'll be quiet. "Don't worry, I'll be extra quiet when I enter, I just want to see if the child's okay."

The nurse nodded before waving at him as he walked away. "You seem like a good father."

Ichigo almost tripped at the statement. "Eh...I'm not his fatherrrr...and she's gone." He sighed before continuing. "Pfft, me a father? I'm only sixteen, why would I be a father at this age?"

"Who knows, you might seem older to them." Zangetsu replied.

 **"Yeah."** The hollow agreed. **"After all, this world seems like it doesn't have much of and age restriction. So you're old enough to get drunk and get some puss-"**

Ichigo cut off the link with an annoyed expression. "Perverted pale bastard." He grumbled.

 _A short while later_

Ichigo came upon the door he got instructions, and with extra caution, he placed his hand on the door knob before opening it as slowly and quietly as he possibly can. When the door was fully open he made his way inside, making sure to keep his steps unheard. The room was darker than he expected it to be, so he decided to stand still until his vision adjusted to the dark.

"I don't think I should be doing this." He thought.

 **"I don't think so as well, you look like you're trying to rob or rape someone."** The hollow replied with a smirk.

Ichigo spotted the child he was suppose to take care of sleeping on a small crib next to the window. He made his way over there before he crouched down and looked over the little gates of the crib to see the whiskered boy that he brought in with him. "He seems fine." He thought with a smile. "I guess I should go-" He was cut off as he felt someone jump on his back.

"What the hell?!" He yelled.

"Leave my Naruto alone you kidnapper!" He heard a woman yelled in a protective and fearful tone.

"W-wait, you got it all-"

The woman attacker bit him on the head which made him yelp in pain as he was tumbling around the room trying to get her off.

"OW!" He roared once more before he managed to get a grip on her and pulled her off. He was about to turn to face her, but before he could catch sight on the mother of...Naruto, right? He saw a fist filled his vision as it made impact on his nose. Ichigo tumbled back a bit before he had enough of this, he heard the woman running towards him and he immediately crouched and picked her up with both arms before tossing her on the bed. He got on top of her before she could get up and pinned her there.

"Get off!" The woman yelled before she began to scream. "Help! There's someone trying to take my baby!"

"Shut up will you! I'm not trying to do anything!" Ichigo yelled, he couldn't fully picture her face since it was still dark in the room, but he managed to catch the she had long red hair that seems like it reaches her ankles, and he could tell that she has violet eye's.

"I know how this goes, you're going to act all innocent to let my guard down and then back stab me and run off with my child. I'm not stupid!" She began to rant of the many possibilities that he could do to her.

Ichigo clenched his teeth as he shut his eye's hard for a second. "Shut up!" He yelled. "Don't compare me with those useless cowards!"

That seemed to get her to stop, but he could feel that she was still glaring at him, ready to take him down the moment he makes the slightest mistake. He didn't want this to continue any longer, they were already off in a bad start, and it doesn't have to be worse. "Are you, Minato's wife?" He spoke a bit softly.

"So what if I am? Why should I tell you."

Ichigo sighed before he began to speak. "I...woke up somewhere near him, and when I did. He was already on his last few breaths." He felt her body twitch in his hands, and he could only guess that this is the first time she's hearing this.

"Y-You don't mean?"

"I'm sorry, but he's dead." He waited for her response, but he didn't get anything. That is until he began to hear soft sniffing. "Is she?" He thought with slightly wide eye's.

His thoughts were comfirmed as he began to hear her sob. Ichigo stayed still for a while not knowing what to do? He slowly released her grip on her, thinking that she might be playing with him and will jump at him any second. But it never came. He got off of her as she continued to cry, he wanted to do something to help her forget her pain, or at least soothe it a bit. So he decided to go with his instincts, he sat right next to her and began to stroke her hair gently. And much to his surprise, he felt her wrap her arms around his. This went on for a few minutes until everything became silent.

Ichigo looked over at the woman who was crying on her arm and noticed that she fell asleep once more. "She's probably still tired." He thought. He gently removed his hand from her grip and picked her up bridal style before he set her down on the bed. He tucked in the blanket that he tossed over her before he took a chair and placed it next to the window.

Looking outside, he saw that it was already getting dark, and the sunset was about to fade away any second now. "This is going to be a long night." He thought as he closed his eye's, allowing sleep to envelop him, not before muttering softly to himself. "What the hell have I got myself into."

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **And done!**

 ***Sigh* It's good to be back, yes it is quite good to be back. So tell me, how did you guy's like this fic? Now I know that there are a lot of things left unexplained, but don't worry it will be revealed in the future chapters. Why would I let out all the information in one go right? It's no fun.**

 **But anyways, this is the remake of this fic since I'm going to delete this one from my profile about a week or two after I've released this chapter. And...well yeah.**

 **So, let's do this right guy's? Let's make this one hell of a story to experience. So anyways...**

 **Thank you guy's so much for reading and for your support, and as always!**

 **I'll see you guy's, when I see you guy's.**

 **PEACE!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everybody! Animelover54321 here and back with a new chapter for the _Leafs Shinigami (Remake)._ Now before I begin I will answer maybe about one or two questions.**

 **1\. Q: About having lemons**

 **A: Yes, I know that Lemons do make a story better for a lot of stories, but I'm afraid that their won't be any. And I have a 'reason' for that. You see, the reasons why I won't be writing lemons is because that I just...well, I don't feel comfortable writing it. I mean, I know this shit is natural and stuff, but I just have this weird feeling in the bottom of my stomach, like if you're about to confess to someone that you like her/him, and you're just building up in, uh...anxiety, about that person rejecting you. Yeah, that's how I feel, so hopefully this is my final message that their will be no lemons.**

 **2\. I don't actually think there's a question two, I just wanted to write this. XD But, to at least put a topic on this. I'll try to make fight scene's more intense to hopefully fill in the 'no Lemons' section.**

 **So yeah, without further interruptions!**

 **Enjoy the Chapter!**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Ichigo stirred as he felt the brightness of the sun punch his face through the window. "Damn sun, can't let me sleep for a few more minute's." He groaned. He rubbed his eye's before opening them, only to fall out of his chair the moment he saw who was literally in front of his face.

Kushina who was inches away from touching nose with Ichigo, giggled at the unexpected reaction she bestowed upon the orange haired Shinigami. She scooted back before sitting up straight, which gave off a feeling of someone that was not to be trifled with. Well, that's what Kushina want's them to think. After all, it can get quite amusing to watch as people try to act extra careful for what they say or do in front of her.

"Good morning." She spoke with care and happiness, but Ichigo caught on to the small amount of depression she held in her tone as well.

"She's taking this better than I thought." He thought to himself before standing up from the cold ground of the hospital. "Good morning to you as well Ms..."

"I'm Kushina, Uzumaki Kushina." She replied, a smile forming on her face.

Ichigo sat back down on the chair before he spoke up again. "Nice to meet you Kushina, my name is Kurosaki Ichigo. And, you may have not noticed earlier since you were unconscious. But, I was the one who brought Naruto here."

"I see." She looked down staring at her legs for a second before gazing back towards Ichigo. "Did you...um."

"No I didn't do anything to him."

"That's not what I meant!" She instantly replied before looking back at her feet uncomfortably. "Did you...see his body?"

Ichigo inwardly sighed to himself. "Yes...I did. I'm sorry for your loss." Wow, it doesn't feel good informing someone that their loved one is dead. In fact, it made him feel like shit for a second. The reason for that is because that information only damaged them, and where did that information came from that hurt that person...yeah, you.

"Oh." She softly spoke. "Hehe, whatever. This is bound to happen to all of us one day...right?" She sadly chuckled, trying to hide the damaged expression she's displaying, but was failing in a few area's.

Ichigo stood up before making his way over to Kushina. He sat next to her before placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, you don't have to hide your pain. I'll listen to what you're keeping inside."

Kushina pulled her knee's upon her chest before she slowly let her emotional side take over. After hearing what Ichigo said last night, she's been having nightmare's. How she watched her husband, Minato, be cut down multiple time's in front of her. While she lay helpless to do anything. The sounds of her baby crying didn't make things better for her.

"Why did he have to die?!" She sniffed as a few tears fell from her eye's. She allowed her head to lay on Ichigo's shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her.

"I don't know. That's just the way this cruel world works, you never know when you'll last see that one precious person until the day comes."

"He was too young! Out of all the time in the world, why did he have to die when our son was born!" She began to sob once more, the wonderful things they were going to do together as a family, shattered!

A knock on the door was heard before someone stepped in. The same person that Ichigo when he was headed to the hospital.

The man stopped before he slowly backed up. "I'll come back later-"

"No." Ichigo cut him off. "It's alright, Kushina needs all the comforting she can get right now.

He nodded before making his way towards the two. "Hey, Kushina." The man spoke as sat he on the opposite side of her. "I've heard what happened yesterday, and well. I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner."

Kushina rubbed her eye's before smiling. "I-It's alright Kakashi, I just heard about it last night."

"Yeah, well. I'm just here to see how you're doing right now." He turned his attention towards Ichigo before speaking. "Say, you're the one with the boy yesterday right? How is he by the way?"

Ichigo gestured over to the small crib not far from them. "Take a look for yourself."

Kakashi stood up before glancing over the crib to see the whiskered boy sleeping quietly as he first saw him. "Has he ever woken up?"

"No." Kushina spoke, her depression over Minato slowly lifting after the Naruto was mentioned, but still left a scar that could never be healed. "Naruto-kun has never woken up since I could last remember."

"Naruto?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, me and Minato haven't told you yet didn't we." Kushina smiled. "He's our son. I gave birth to him yesterday."

Kakashi felt like an electrical cord just shocked him, like something had refilled a missing part of him. "M-May I?" He asked in slight hope.

"Go ahead. I don't mind." She nodded.

Kakashi turned his gaze back to Naruto before he slowly...and gently, picked him up. His eye's glued onto his face as he felt the soft breathing of the child. A smile formed under his mask while a tear fell from his only exposed eye. "Hehe, he's beautiful." Kakashi complimented.

Naruto squirmed slightly, showing that he's beginning to wake up, much to the three's excitement. As he opened his eye's for the first time, he first caught sight of Kakashi who was still holding him.

"He has his fathers eye's." He spoke before handing him over to Kushina to witness her baby take in his surroundings for the first time.

Naruto stared into Kushina's violet eye's before his mouth opened with a smile as he extended his arms out.

"Well look at that." Ichigo spoke. "He knows that you're his mother.

"I guess it's a baby instinct, huh?" Kakashi added as he and Ichigo gave each other a nod.

Kushina stayed silent, ignoring the two that were talking as she kept her full attention on Naruto. The last and only memory that Minato left behind for her, and dammit she will protect this last gift that she received. She doesn't care who it is, if anyone dares to try and take Naruto away from her. Then she'll make sure that persons bloodline never existed in the first place.

Ichigo stared at the two with happiness and respect. "That solves this problem. Now, I'm just worrying about getting home." He thought.

 **"I suggest that you get comfortable in this place Ichigo."** Zangetsu spoke. **"We don't know how to return to where we came from. And I'm sure it would take awhile before anyone is able to mark our location and come retrieve us."** He paused as he sadly thought to himself. **"Well, that's if anyone is still trying to find us."**

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I mean, Aizen should be taken care of anyways, after the beating I gave him before I appeared here, he'll be captured easily by any Captain that comes across him."

Zangetsu sighed as he continued to observe Ichigo's surroundings through his eye's **"All we can do is wait and hope that they don't give up."**

 _Some time later_

During the time the four were together, Kakashi gave a farewell before leaving to catch up with his duties. But not before he was told to keep Naruto's heritage a secret. He didn't need an explanation since he could already guess why.

"I guess we should be going now." Kushina spoke.

"Are you sure? I don't think you should try to stand right now. It's been a short time and you still need your rest." Ichigo suggested.

"I'm fine, just watch." Kushina spoke as she slowly tried to stand up, she managed to do it. But was unable to take even a step, for she stumbled and almost fell over. Luckily Ichigo caught her before she can completely lose her balance.

Kushina pouted as she turned away. "Well...go on." She spoke.

"For what?"

"Just say _'I told you so'_ already."

Ichigo chuckled as he helped her sit back on her bed. "Nah, I would rather not." He spoke, which made her slightly confused. "Tell you what, since you want to get out of here so badly I'll help you out."

"How?" She asked as she wondered what tricks he has up his sleeve.

"Just leave it to me." He replied as he stood up and walked out the door, leaving behind a curious Kushina with her child.

A few minutes later Ichigo walked back in the room, but bringing a wheel chair with him as well. "Alright, get on." He requested as he went to grab Naruto who was rolling around in his crib. When he gave Naruto to Kushina, he began to make his way down the hall before entering an elevator that brought them to the first floor. When they exited the elevator they made their way to the main lobby where the exit was at. As they were getting closer to the exit, he heard someone call out to them.

"Hey!" A nurse spoke walking up to the three. "Where are you going with our patient?"

"Um...well..."

"I'm his mother, I just want to get some fresh air." Kushina jumped in the converstion.

"Well, I'm sorry to say, but I can't allow you to leave without proper permission." The nurse replied. "Even if your son is a stunning man to look at."

Kushina was about to admit defeat and head back to her room, but an idea popped up in her head. "Tell you what." A small smirk appeared on her face. "If you let us go, I'll hook you up with my son here tonight."

"I appreciate your offer, but I still can't allow-"

"He's nine inches long with a diameter of three."

"I'll see you tonight at eight hot stuff." She then walked away with a flirtatious smile giving a small sway on her hips.

Ichigo stared at the retreating nurse before looking at Kushina. "Was that necessary?"

"No, not really. Now let's get out of here before anyone else tries to stop us!" She suggested.

"Yes mother." He playfully spoke as he chuckled.

"... so how big are-"

"That is unnecessary information."

 _Half an hour later_

The three made their way towards an apartment Kushina had owned in her younger days, and still does today. "We're here." She spoke in relief at being someplace other than the hospital, she would head back to the house that she and Minato lived together, but after the unbearable information about her lover passing on, she just couldn't bring herself back to the place she once dreamed to raise their child. So let's just say she's trying to start anew.

"You sure?" Ichigo asked, unconvinced by the looks of the place. "It looks more like a house."

"Yes, I'm sure." Kushina replied as they made it towards the doorstep. "My family had strong connections with Konoha, so I was provided with almost everything I needed. And trust me, I was surprised when I saw that this was mine as well."

Ichigo nodded in understanding. "Heh, glad there's no stairs. Or that would've been a problem." He muttered. As he opened the door, Kushina wheeled herself inside before shutting it behind her. "Wow!" He spoke in surprise. "It seems like you got way more room than you needed."

"Yeah, too much actually. I never used two rooms, so I just made them guest rooms." She scratched her head as she had a gentle grip around Naruto who was studying the new area they were in. "Let's see, my room is the first room on the left. One of the rooms will become Naruto's when he gets older, but for now he'll sleep with me. But, you can choose either the one at the back left or right."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow as he turned to face her. "Wait, I'm not actually staying here right? I mean, we just barely met each other, don't you feel...you know...uncomfortable?"

Kushina chuckled as she shrugged. "I can give many reasons on why you should stay here with us. You give a pretty valid reason I'll admit. But I can feel that I can trust you. After all, you didn't try anything harmful to me or Naruto last night while we were the most vulnerable. You even when you helped me leave the hospital out of your own free will." She rubbed her arm as she turned her gaze towards the window located in their kitchen. "But...the thing I can tell about you the most is, your eye's. They're filled with so much pain, yet you're able to smile a true smile." She turned back towards him before smiling brightly. "So please, stay with us."

Ichigo stayed silent for a second as he thought about the two available decisions he had. He could either say no, and leave right now wishing them luck. But have no place to stay, much less how is he going to be able to feed himself or find a way back to his world without having someplace to welcome him back after a long day. Or he could just say yes. And that would make things much easier for him, to have a warm place to come back to after he gets a job to pay for whatever he needs. And that would help him get up and outta here faster. So in the end, the answer is pretty obvious.

"Alright." He replied as he smiled lightly. "I'll stay."

Kushina perked up after hearing his reply. "That's great! Also you should smile more often, that scowl on your face seems to really scare some people." She pointed out.

Ichigo chuckled as he thought to himself. "Some things just never change." He turned to walk down the hall to see which room he'd like best. "If you don't mind, I'll be checking out the rooms."

"Sure, I'll be in the kitchen if you need me." She replied as she set Naruto down somewhere safe and out of reach of any dangerous objects that might kill a baby.

Ichigo picked out a random room without checking how they look. "Well, home sweet home I guess." He thought to himself.

 **"For now at least. We might not want to get too connected with these people when we leave, or else it'll be a really tough decision to make."** Zangetsu suggested.

"Yeah." Ichigo responded. "No kidding."

Too bad for that idea, for it'll only be a matter of months until they get too attached with these people, and that would be something that would change their lives. But will it be for the greater good? Or will it fuck up their lives even more? Hehe, we'll see.

 _Five years later_

Yes, five years have passed since that fateful day the Kyuubi raged upon the village. Five years it's been since the village lost their precious Yondaime, and for one red head, her thought to be lover for life. Five years it's been since our orange haired Shinigami fell into the Shinobi world, where a Shinigami should be nowhere near.

In a quiet room we find our main character sleeping in his trousers peacefully. That is until his alarm went off. Ichigo groaned before he lazily shut off the loud beeping from his counter. He yawned as he rose to a sitting position. "Good morning to me." He sarcastically spoke to no one in particular.

Now 21 years old, he stood up allowing his full height to be displayed. Over the years he has grown to a height of 6'3, where he stopped growing as he finally reached his growing limit. He passed the height of his father by two inches, much to his pleasure.

As he opened his drawer, he pulled out his Shinigami garments before throwing them over his almost nude body. He would've wore the common Shinobi outfit, but let's just say that these made him move around better. Also because they're really comfy to be in. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, he's now part of Konoha's military, A.K.A Shinobi. For how he got himself into it, well let's just say he had a bit of fun fighting some people who he's now in a very close friendship with. A few months later he was given a suggestion to join the ANBU for his amazing skills in fighting as well as stealth. People who described his stealth said that it was something entirely different, like he's manage to turn himself into something unrecognizable. This gave him extra bonus on his career as a shinobi. A year later he's been promoted to be an ANBU Captain since his skills has been improving ever since. That day brought him to form a bond with three people that he could call family.

As Ichigo exited his room, his sense of smell caught a very familiar smell of breakfast being prepared. He made his way towards the kitchen before his eye's caught sight of a very beautiful red head roaming around the kitchen with a bright smile.

"Good morning." He spoke startling her.

Kushina placed a hand on her chest as she leaned back in slight shock. "Oh my, don't scare me like that Ichigo."

Ichigo chuckled as he began to help her set up the table. "My bad, I didn't mean to do that."

"Yeah, I know." She replied as she began to help out. "It's just you're so hard to sense, it's like you're not even real at all."

"Yeah, well my dad always told me to be prepared for anything, so I guess he taught me well if I'm really that hard to feel."

"Your dad sounds like a great guy."

"Yeah, he is." He smiled sadly as he remembered his family, how he nearly broke down when it's been so long since he's heard or seen them. He shook his head to get rid of such thoughts. "Say, where's Naruto?"

Kushina sighed to herself. "He's still not awake yet? I thought I told him to get up."

Ichigo smiled as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll get him."

"Thank you." She replied as he watched Ichigo leave around the corner.

Ichigo came upon Naruto's room before he knocked twice on it. "Naruto, get up! You need to head over to the academy soon."

He received silence in reply. After knocking once more, he opened the door revealing a very messy five year olds room. There was cloths everywhere as well as ramen cups. Ever since Naruto ate a bowl of ramen he's been addicted to it ever since. And it doesn't help that Kushina also loves it as much as Naruto, but he's grateful that she can control herself to a certain extent.

He saw Naruto laying in an awkward position on his bed as he slept soundly. Ichigo poked him causing him to stir. "Naruto come on. It's time to get up."

Naruto groaned as he lazily spoke. "Five more minutes."

Ichigo stood for a second before sighing, he exited the room before coming back with a cup of cold water in hand. He splashed it on Naruto causing him to jump in shock.

"C-C-Cold!" He shivered.

"Oh great, you're finally up." Ichig smiled. "Now hurry up and get dressed, we're going to head out in ten minutes. And if you're not out by then, you're not getting anything to eat." He left the room leaving a shivering Naruto.

Ichigo reentered the kitchen to see Kushina already finishing up with breakfast. "He's up."

"That's great." She replied. She soon remembered something that was going to occupy her for awhile. "And Ichigo?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you take Naruto to the academy? I'm meeting with the girls today for something important."

"Sure, go on ahead. I'll take care of everything."

"Thank you." She replied before leaving the kitchen, much to Ichigo's confusion.

"Aren't you going to eat first?"

Kushina glanced behind her before speaking. "I already ate before you guy's were awake. So I'll just be getting a shower before heading out."

He nodded in understanding before checking the time. "Fifteen minutes till the academy starts. Looks like Naruto's going to be eating on the way." He sighed. A few seconds later Naruto appeared with an exhausted expression. He wore his white T-Shirt with a red swirl in the middle with black shorts on.

"You'll be eating on the way, we'll be late if we're not out of here now."

Naruto nodded weakly before lifting his arms. "Carry me, I'm too tired."

Ichigo stood for awhile before sighing. "Alright, hop on." He spoke as he got on his knees, allowing Naruto to place his legs over his shoulders. With that, the two exited the building heading towards the academy. As they strolled down the streets of Konoha, the two began to make small talk with each other.

"So, what do you plan to be when you grow up Naruto?"

Naruto grinned as stared at the Hokage monument in the distance. "I want to become Hokage. So that in the end no one will look down on me like some useless kid."

"Oh yeah, and how will you get there?"

"By training of course." Naruto looked down at Ichigo with a smile. "The way every Hokage has done it before, working their butts off until they can't go on anymore."

"That's a fine dream you have. Keep it in mind and don't let anything that will falter you keep yourself from reaching that dream. There will be many trials ahead of you, trials that will make you doubt your strength. All you need to do is break through every one to reach your destination."

Naruto nodded in understanding. "I'll make it, I'm sure of it dattebayo!"

Ichigo chuckled to himself, that is until his sight caught onto two familiar people ahead of him. "Oi, Itachi!"

Itachi, who was giving his brother a ride to the academy as well, turned to see one of his closest friends that he knows he could trust with almost anything. "Ichigo!" He spoke with a smile as he slightly waved at the two. "Say, why don't we walk together as we're headed the same direction?"

Ichigo nodded, the suggestion he was going to make already spoken by Itachi. "Sure, I was going to say that anyways."

As the two grown ups were talking, Naruto and Sasuke were glaring at each other with a challenging aura around them.

"Sasuke." Naruto spat.

"Naruto." Sasuke replied in a similar way.

Ichigo and Itachi stared at the two rivals with a small smile on their faces.

"This never seems to get old." Ichigo chuckled.

"Indeed."

The now four continued their walk towards the academy. After that, it will be a free day to for them to figure out what to do, since it's pretty much their day off after a few long months of A to S-ranked missions they were taking. When they reached the front entrance that lead into the academy, Itachi and Ichigo allowed Sasuke and Naruto to get off of them before they ran towards their classes.

"Bye Nii-san!" Naruto yelled. Yup, ever since Ichigo could remember, he was called, ' _Nii-san',_ by Naruto. Not that it bothered him or anything, it was actually quite surprising and heart-warming. It's been a long time since he heard his sisters call him that, if they're alive somewhere out there. But hearing that after so long made him ease his hidden pain easier.

"See you later Itachi-Nii!" Sasuke called out with a huge smile. These moments are one of the rare moments you'll ever see Sasuke smile as bright as that.

"See you later...Sasuke." Itachi spoke softly with a tone that didn't seem to happy. More like, depressed.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at hearing the sudden change of mood in Itachi's tone. And being his friend, he couldn't help but become worried for him. As the two walked away from the academy, Ichigo decided to bring that up.

"Itachi, are you alright?"

Itachi turned his gaze to Ichigo with a confused expression. "Why do you say that?"

Ichigo scratched the back of his neck as he sighed. "Well, back there in front of the academy you didn't sound too...happy. Well, not happy more like as you always sound. You seemed depressed or worried for something."

Itachi inwardly cursed himself for letting such an obvious slip up be exposed. "Oh, it's just something that I couldn't get my mind off of. I just need to think it through first, I'll be fine." He lied.

Ichigo caught on to his lie, but decided not to press on for more answers. If his friend doesn't feel like talking about it right now, then he'll wait until he's ready. "Alright then. Let me know when you wanna talk about it. After all, we're friends aren't we?"

Itachi nodded, feeling relief wash over him as he inwardly thanked Ichigo for not pushing him to say anything. But then again, a part of him just wants to say everything right now, to get it all off of his chest and find help.

"I have something to do, I'll see you later Ichigo." He spoke before jumping on the roof tops away from his friend. "I wish I could tell you, but I have no doubt that they're listening on me right now. If I rat them out, then everything Konoha's fought so hard for will fall apart. We'll meet again Ichigo. When we do, I'll be a much different man then what you know of today." Itachi thought as he continued jumping across the roof tops.

 _Back with Ichigo_

Our orange haired Shinigami is currently walking around town, having nothing better to do than to just see what he can find new. His team, which consisted of Yugao, Itachi, and Kakashi, are having their private time right now, leaving him with absolutely nothing to do. He remembered how they all first got into a team together, and heck he's quite sure that they're the best four man ANBU team out there. Quick and deadly, that's what they are, and the way they like it to be. He thought of trying to hang out with some others he's gotten in a friendly relationship with. Let's see, Gai? No, he'll challenge him to do some crazy ass work outs that'll leave him sore for weeks. Asuma? Nah, last time he did that he was trying to score a date with Kurenai, which kind of put him in a bad mood for a day or two. Anko? Nope, she's probably too busy torturing some poor bastard for information they probably don't need. After all, she just loves torturing people. Hana? Probably training her dogs. Kurenai? She's practicing on her Genjutsu to make sure she stay's sharp.

Yup, he's out of options. Kushina is somewhere with Mikoto, Yoshino, and Tsume doing whatever women do at their age. As he was walking in thought of all of this, he never realized that he bumped into someone on the way.

"Whoa!" Ichigo heard.

Since he was taller and more stronger he was able to keep his balance before catching the person that was about to fall. "Sorry about that." Ichigo nervously chuckled before thinking to himself. "I really need to stop thinking while I'm walking."

"It's alright."

Ichigo decided to take in the persons appearance as she regained her balance. It was a she, who seemed to have dark bluish hair with a Konoha's head band tied around her head. "So she's a shinobi as well." He thought. He could also see that she has pupiless eye's that reminded him of a certain Hyuga clan. Other than that, she dressed in the common Jonin outfit everyone wears. After taking in her appearance, he took notice that there was a few boxes laying scattered across the ground across them. "I'm so sorry, here I'll help you." He spoke as he began to pick them up one by one.

"Thanks, but I can handle it myself though. I don't want to waste your time." She replied as she picked up two boxes.

"No, I insist. I have nothing else to do. So this won't be a bother to me."

After a few seconds, she sighed before speaking. "Okay then. Come on, follow me."

Ichigo complied with her request and began to follow her down the road. "So where are we headed?"

"Back to my place of course."

Ichigo chuckled as he thought about heading over the Hyuga estate. "Well, I can't enter the Hyuga estate sadly. So I'll just walk you to the gate."

"Oh, it's alright. I don't actually live in the Hyuga estate."

Ichigo glanced at her with surprise. "Really?! I mean...it's just-"

"Yeah, I know. I'm a Hyuga. And we usually stay in the clan or some shit like that." She chuckled before speaking. "Well, I'm not like all of them. I actually left on my own. But, they don't actually know about it. So keep that a secret will ya."

Ichigo nodded in understanding leaving the two to walk in silence for a while. That is until he decided to wonder who this person's name is. "So, what's your name? I'm Ichigo by the way."

"Hitomi." She replied. "And you already know my last name."

"So...what's with the boxes?"

"Well, as I've already told you before. I don't live in the Hyuga estate...anymore. And that day came recently, which I think was 8 day's ago. I would go and get my personal belongings, but that would make things suspicious on my part. So I decided to buy new furniture with the money I've been saving."

"Wow, you really got guts to leave the place without permission, even though you know of the consequences...Say, why did you leave anyways?"

"You ask a lot of questions you know that."

Ichigo embarrassingly chuckled. "Oh, sorry. If you don't want to talk about it I understand."

"No, it's not that. I don't mind talking about it." She sighed before speaking. "It's just that I've really grown tired of how the main house and the branch house view each other. I just couldn't take it anymore."

Ichigo sighed to himself as he remembered how some clans are. He knows that if he could, he would change something about this, but this is part of their law. So he can't do anything about it unless he wants to be executed or given a horrible punishment. "I see. I don't think it's a good idea for you to leave though. What if your mom or dad, or anyone close to you suddenly notices your disappearance. They'll definitely send a search party for you."

Hitomi chuckled at that. "Well to break it to you, my parents are dead. I have no brothers or sisters. Hiashi, who I view as a step uncle, has been distant from me for a few years. So I can say with confidence that he's forgotten about me. His daughters, Hinata and Hanabi are occupied most of the time. So I hardly see the two anymore. So I doubt that they will remember me any time soon."

"Wow, you've become really isolated lately. I can't imagine how that feels when you receive it from family."

"At first it hurts, I felt really depressed and that's when I slowly stopped seeing people in the clan. Then after awhile, I thought about leaving. so I did. I bought some stuff, then I ran into you. And you know the rest." A few more seconds later, they came up to an apartment complex. "Alright, it's just up there." She gestured towards the second floor of the building.

When the two reached the front door, Ichigo opened the door before setting the boxes down on the kitchen counter. "There we go, one delivery of housing materials for a fine lady like yourself."

Hitomi giggled at his words. "Why thank you kind sir." She replied. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some unpacking to take care of."

Ichigo nodded before heading towards the door. "It was a pleasure knowing you Hitomi."

"You as well, if you ever wanna hang out you know where to find me." She replied.

He smiled before closing the door and heading back down the stairs into the streets. "Now what?" He thought to himself.

 **"...Sleep?"** The hollow suggested.

"...Fuck it." He replied as he headed back towards his living quarters. "I'm still a bit sleepy anyways."

 _11:40 P.M Itachi's POV_

It's now night time in Konoha, there's a full moon tonight on this quiet time. On a roof, Itachi sat gazing at the hundreds of lights that shined throughout the village. He gazed up at the moon for a split second before nodding to himself. The time to act is now. With that, he vanished from the roof, only to appear in front of the Uchiha estate. As he made his way torwards the front, he took notice of two gaurds that were stationed there speaking to one another just to pass the time.

The two noticed a lone figure making it's way towards them which made them tense up for second. When they saw that it was only Itachi, their muscles eased themselves in relief.

One of the guards began to speak with a small smile "Hey Itachi, you were gone for awhile. How you been-" He was silenced by a Kunai implanting itself in his throat, he gurgled a bit before falling over dead, leaving his partner to stand in shock.

The other guard snapped out of his shock before pulling out a Kunai. "I-Itachi! What are you doing!"

Itachi glanced at the other guard from the corner of his eye before drawing his sword. "Taking orders." He spoke in a cold tone, sending shivers up the guards spine.

With that he engaged the last guard and easily beheaded him. He looked down to see his clothing covered in blood of his own people. That made his stomach twist in disgust, he felt that he was about to vomit any second now, but he pulled himself together and focused back to the sole reason he was doing this. With that, he entered the compound before heading towards the nearest house. When he reached the door step he let a small tear slowly fall since it wouldn't stayed inside him. When he entered, he placed his emotionless expression on once more.

A few seconds later, Itachi came out of the building with his weapons and clothing bloodier than ever. There was so much blood everywhere, on the floors, the walls, the bed. This was the first time he took a life of a young one that had no chance of defending himself. The worse thing about it is that he couldn't stop himself, he kept going through every house, ending a life of another that had an innocent heart, that had no part of what was going on, but he had to do it. It was either that or watch his little brother be treated as tool for that _'mans'_ personal interest!

His feet came to a stop in front of another house, his house. The place he's remembered growing up since he was just a little innocent boy, but now, the only thing that stood in that spot was a monster. A monster that can never hope to receive forgiveness anymore. His legs slightly shook at the thought of going in...but he has to. In order to keep Sasuke safe, he'll do anything.

So he entered, he made sure that no one was wandering around the house awake. After all, I guess it would be better if he didn't hear the pleads and screams of someone you loved dearly. After checking every room quietly, he noted that everyone is asleep, thank kami for that. Now it came for him to move into his parents room. Every step he took towards the door, he could feel his heart beating louder and louder. He grasped the door knob before slowly opening it, allowing the dark room to be viewed upon him. He stood by the door for a second, allowing his vision to get used to the darkness before heading inside.

His attention caught sight of two figures laying motionless on the bed. He could hear the very soft breathing of his two parents as they slept without any worry of being attacked. He made his way up to his fathers side of the bed before gazing down at the man in front of him. His Mangekyo Sharingan blazing brightly as he glared in hate at the man in front of him. The person who made his life a living hell, all because of some arrogant view that an Uchiha wasn't a Hokage. Just for planning a way to get one of their own on the seat by force, he was forced to eliminate his clan from the orders of that _'man'_ , after he figured out his fathers plan. He couldn't feel anything but hate for him anymore. His eye's caught sight of a picture of his family smiling happily in the camera, all except for his father who stood with an annoyed expression. He didn't like that one bit. He grabbed hold of the image before tearing out the part his father was in, leaving the three smiling Uchiha family to themselves. He stuffed the image in his pocket as the last and only moment his family will ever be happy. Because after tonight, Konoha will never be the same.

He found himself turning back towards his father who slightly stirred before settling once more. He grasped his sword tightly as his mind began to flash through all the times he was truly happy with what he has. His grasp on the hilt of the sword became so tight, that he began to shake in anger, that shaking made his weapon rattle and click which made some unwanted noise to be heard at this time of night.

Fugaku began to slowly wake up when the sound of clicking bothered his hearing. As his vision fully cleared, he saw his own son swinging his swords down upon him. And he knew by the force that he was swinging it, that this was no joke. He tried to move out of the way, but to no avail, it struck him in the shoulder making him yell in pain.

This sudden noise caused Mikoto to jump out of her bed in fright, she looked over to her husband only to widen her eyes in horror at her eldest child stabbing him through his shoulder.

"Itachi!" She yelled in fear as she scrambled to her feet and backed up towards the wall. Her hand placed over her mouth as she was left in a state of shock and confusion. "What are you doing?!"

Itachi gave her mother no attention as he kept his gaze on his father. He knew, that if he looks at her, he would completely shut down then and their. His body would be sapped of all it's energy with one look of his mothers disappointed, fearful eyes. So he took the easier way, he grabbed his father by the shoulder where his wound was and threw him against the wall. He didn't let up there, he kept on beating him. All while hearing his mothers pleading cries to stop. That's when he couldn't tell who he was anymore. He couldn't even recognize who these blood covered hands, or who this body belonged to anymore. Who was he? Where was that Itachi everyone knew in heart?

Gone.

The next thing he realized doing, was impaling his father through the heart as he watched his eye's slowly die out. How his heart lifted after seeing that. Knowing that the cause of everything is now gone. But that was soon replaced by another.

"Itachi-Nii?"

Itachi's eye's widened at the voice. He slowly turned his gaze towards the door to see Sasuke with a look of horror and confusion.

"What are you doing to Tou-san?" Sasuke asked as he couldn't get his eye's to look at his mother who was screaming at him to run.

"Sasuke." Itachi spoke as he let Fugaku's body fall to the ground. He took once step towards his little brother, only to see him take a step back.

That one move, shattered him. Knowing that Sasuke could and would never see him for who he is...no, who he was, ever again. He gazed at the floor, fighting back tears that tried to burst out. After knowing that he had himself under control, he gazed back up to Sasuke, replacing his expression into his cold and emotionless version once more.

"Sasuke, listen to me." He spoke, his tone freezing his brother in place. "I don't have much time left, so listen well." He inwardly sighed to himself before speaking. "Hate me, despise my very existence. And when you know you've grown strong enough. Come find me, and end this miserable life of mine." With that, he said one word that made Sasuke fall to the floor unconscious.

"Tsukuyomi."

When Mikoto saw that Sasuke fell to the floor motionless, she feared the worst. "Sasuke!" She yelled as she ran towards him and picked him up.

She then proceeded to run out of her room trying to find the exit in the darkness of the house. It seemed impossible for her, since every corner she took she saw a shadowed figure of Itachi standing there. The only way she could tell it was him was because of the blazing red eye's that glared into her very core. After a few seconds of running through this endless maze she thought she was running in, she made it towards the front door and exited it. Thank god it was open when she saw it, because she probably would've been caught if she had to open it. She was about to get off her porch, but she misplaced a step, and that caused her to sprain an ankle. She tumbled to the ground in pain, but she didn't give up there. Mikoto began to crawl away, but having to drag herself and Sasuke across the ground proved to be useless as Itachi stood above her.

"Itachi!" She whimpered. "Why are you doing this?!"

Itachi stood for a second before raising his weapon. "I don't know." He muttered before bringing it down.

Mikoto closed her eye's, waiting for the feeling of fear to stop along with her body. However, as she heard something block Itachi's strike, that caused her to open her eye's in wonder who her savior was.

 _A few minutes after the start of the massacre_

Hiruzen stood gazing out the window of the Hokage's tower, he couldn't get this feeling that something bad was going to happen tonight, the feeling wouldn't stay away from him. Not to mention, when he called Itachi in for something important, he noticed that he acted rather strange. The way he tried to hide what he was feeling, the times he caught him gazing out the window towards his home. Yeah, something was up.

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard the door open, allowing three of his best Shinobi to walk in. But, in a sort of grumpy, exhausted way.

"This better be good Jiji." Ichigo yawned as he rubbed his eye's.

Yugao nodded in agreement with her captain. "Yeah, I only slept for a few minutes already until one of your guards informed me that you wanted to see us."

Kakashi jumped on a couch in the room as he lay in a sleeping position. "So what's this about?"

Hiruzen sighed before speaking. "We're here to talk about your friend and teammate Uchiha Itachi." He turned his gaze from the window before going to sit down on his office chair facing the three. "Tell me, has he been acting strange recently?"

Yugao nodded after a few seconds. "Now that you say it, I did notice that he's been acting rather...strange."

"I agree." Kakashi spoke. "He seemed rather depressed when I saw him."

"Same here." Ichigp replied before adding onto the question. "When I walked with him to the academy, he seemed fine at first. But I noticed when he said Sasuke's name he seemed sad. Like it was probably the last time he was going to see him." Ichigo thought about what he just said for a second. "You don't think, that somethings going on with the Uchiha clan. Do you?"

Hiruzen shook his head. "I have no idea, but we can't let this go unexamined. I want you Ichigo, to go with Kakashi and Yugao to investigate what's actually going on here. I'll be joining you guy's with some reinforcements. I have a feeling something's going to happen that would affect the village as a whole."

The three nodded as they vanished from the Hokage's tower, heading straight for the Uchiha estate. When they appeared in front of the gates, they expected someone to be standing there on lookout. But seeing two dead Uchiha's really placed them on guard.

"Someone's breaking and entering." Ichigo spoke as he knelt down inspecting the two dead corpses in front of him. "And he or she is quite skilled. I want a full investigation within thirty yards of Uchiha estate. Nothing gets in or out without us knowing. And if you can, try to find survivors and bring them back towards the main entrance. Let's move!"

With that, the three vanished from sight searching for the culprit that dared do something like this to their village. Oh, they're going to get a long painful interrogation, Ichigo will make sure of that.

He entered a building searching around for a bit. Trying to find any sort of small object that will give them a clue on where their criminal is. He made his way towards the kitchen to find the couple of this building drenched in their own blood. Their body slumped over a chair as their heads rested on the table.

"May you two find peace in the next life, for this one would not provide such a request." Ichigo muttered paying his respects. He heard very faint whimpering coming from his right. He draws Zangetsu from his back before making his way over towards the sound. It was coming from a closet. He placed his hand on the door knob before yanking the door hard. It flew open as he got into a defensive stance, but he eased himself seeing that it was a little girl. An injured and frightened little girl.

"Hey buddy." Ichigo spoke as he sheathed his sword. He got on his knees trying to make himself seem as friendly and welcoming as possible. "Come here, it's alright now. The monsters gone."

The little girl stayed still for a second before throwing herself on Ichigo. Her body shaking harder than Ichigo could ever thought possible.

"It's okay." He slightly moved her back and forth, trying to sooth her. "She's in a state of shock." He thought to himself.

 **"She'll be fine."** Zangetsu spoke. **"After a while, she'll slowly regain her normal self. But that will take a while. But, her usual personality will never be the same as it used to be."**

 **"You should bring her back towards the entrance king. She needs that wound on her shoulder checked out ASAP."** The hollow suggested.

"Yeah, already on it." He replied as he stood up, carrying the little girl bridal style. If he could guess how old she is, he would probably say 2 or 3 years of age. "Come one little one. I'll take you somewhere nice and safe." With that, Ichigo vanished and reappeared at the entrance, only to greet his other two teammates who were tending to some other children. "We got a wounded here." He spoke.

"Yeah, here as well." Yugao replied as she bandaged up a little boys arm. "This is terrible. For these kids to go through such a thing at such a young age."

"Yeah." Kakashi replied with a nod. "Hopefully Hokage-sama will get here soon with some medics."

"No kidding." Ichigo muttered. "So, you guy's find anything?"

"So far no. My section seems pretty tight. Made sure nothing slip my eye's when I patrolled around the area." Kakashi confirmed.

"Same here. Nothing found besides this kid. Looks like whoever did this had a heart to spare a few children."

"So far we only got three. Two girls, one boy." Kakashi replied.

Ichigo sighed before he stared at the little girl who was still in his arms. "You'll be fine here." He spoke with a reassuring smile. All of the comforting ended when they heard a scream coming off from a distance.

"You guys heard that or was that just me?" Kakashi asked.

"No I heard that." Ichigo narrowed his eye's. "Which means our culprit is still near here." He turned towards Yugao before speaking. "Yugao, you stay here and protect the children. If you see _'anyone'_ you don't know, I don't care who it is. You cut them down before they get near the children."

Yugao nodded in understanding before she gather the kids close to each other.

"Kakashi." Ichigo spoke. "On me."

"Right behind you buddy." Kakashi replied as he followed his leader on the roof tops.

The two continued on this route for a few seconds before they heard the same scream once more. This time, it was closer, much closer. "We're on them." Ichigo spoke as he came to a stop. In the distance he saw Mikoto exiting her house running. She had what he guessed was Sasuke in her arms. But what really confused him was seeing Itachi pursuing the two drenched in blood. He didn't know what was going on, at first he thought Itachi got into a fight with the criminal to protect his family. However, such thoughts were dissipated when he saw him swing his sword on his own mother!

"Shit." He cursed as he appeared in a flash in front of Itachi, blocking the strike that was meant to end Mikoto's life. "Itachi." He growled. "What the hell is the meaning of this!"

Itachi stayed still, his head trying to find an answer for this situation. "How...did you know?" He spoke.

"It doesn't matter how the fuck I know. What I wanna know is why?!" Ichigo yelled as he pushed him back. "Kakashi now!" He yelled.

Kakashi appeared behind Itachi with a Chidori blazing palm. He's not trying to kill him, just try to subdue him from trying anything that would cause more trouble.

Itachi instantly substituted with a log, successfully dodging the blow that would've probably leave him defenseless.

"Damn." Kakashi spoke as he took his place next to Ichigo. "What now?"

Ichigo sighed as looked at Mikoto who was staring at the two in shock. Her mind not knowing which side to pick.

"Take Mikoto and Sasuke and get out of here." He ordered as he turned his gaze back towards Itachi who was standing a few yards away from them.

"But-"

"Just do it Kakashi!" Ichigo growled. "You know I can take Itachi by myself. We'll speak of this another time. But for now just shut your trap and do as I say."

Kakashi sighed before nodding. "Yeah, sure." He made his way over towards the two breathing Uchiha's before picking up Mikoto bridal style and had Sasuke wrap his hands around his neck. "Make sure you get back in one piece." He spoke before muttering. "Oh yeah, try to bring Itachi back." He then vanished from the area.

Ichigo stabbed Zangetsu on the ground before he began to approach Itachi. "So..." He crossed his arms as he now stood inches away from him. "Why'd you do it?"

Itachi turned his gaze towards the ground before speaking. "I can't say-" He was cut off as he felt a fist hit his face. Ichigo grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Why! Did! You! Do! It!" Every word he spoke began to grown louder.

"I can't say!" Itachi yelled. "They're watching." He muttered.

"Who's watching?!"

Itachi responded with silence as he stood motionless. Ichigo's patience wore off as he brought his fist back and punched him in the gut 'hard', sending him crashing towards the house.

"Who's watching?!" He roared. "Why can't you just tell me dammit?!" Each question he yelled began to grow more desperate for answers "Why are you doing this?! Who made you do this?! Tell me Itachi! I can help you clear your name." He began to pace back in forth clenching his fist in anger. "I can help you. All I ask is that you cooperate with me."

Itachi came out of the building as he clutched his gut in pain. "Hehe, if only it were that easy." He spoke.

"Easy?!" Ichigo questioned. "Open your eye's Itachi, nothing is easy in this world! It's all fucked up the moment we were born in it! Just constant wars and fights to be the best!"

"I wish it could go back to the way things were Ichigo. I really do."

"And there you go again. It can go back, all I need is an explanation on why this is happening Itachi. Why you did this? You're the one who holds all of the answers right now, all you need to do is tell me. Your friend...right? I'm your friend?"

"You say that it can go back?! Then tell me Ichigo! How the hell am I suppose to face my mother now?! After everything I've done to her this very night! You think she's going to look at me with the same caring eye's she gave me the day I was born. No! She's not! Oh, and how about Sasuke! I killed his father in front of his very eye's! He saw it, he saw everything! How is this going to be the same again?!"

"...I...I..."

"Yeah, you don't know." He spoke with a knowing answer. "It was nice knowing you Ichigo. Really, it was. But now we must go our separate ways. Don't speak about me to Sasuke alright, that's all I ask." With that he turned and began to walk away from him before Konoha would put this place on lockdown.

Ichigo clenched his fist as he stared at the retreating figure of Itachi. One of the best friends he made since high school. He would be damned if he let him just walk away as if none of this ever mattered in the first place. "Where do you think you're going." He spoke as he began to chase him. "If you're not going to talk then I'll beat the answers out of you!" He raised his fist, intending to knock out Itachi in the back of the head. When his fist made contact, the figure of Itachi dissipated in a cloud of smoke, much to Ichigo's shock.

"Shit!" He thought to himself as he began to search his surroundings. "Zangetsu, see if you can pinpoint Itachi's location."

Zangetsu complied with his request and began to search for any similar energy's that will match Itachi's, but to no avail. There was nothing. **"I'm sorry Ichigo, but he's gone. Looks like that clone of his bought him enough time to escape."**

"No." Ichigo thought as he fell to his knees. "Why, why do the closet people get taken away from me!" He yelled as his emotions began to crumble like how he remembered feeling five years ago. "Why? What did I do?"

 **"You'll get him back Ichigo."** Zangetsu reassured. **"But for now, we must leave him be. Come on, let's see how Mikoto and Sasuke are doing."**

Ichigo stayed on his knees for a while before he slowly stood up. He made his way over towards his sword before picking it up and readjusting it on his back. With that, he flashed away, back towards the entrance of the estate. When he appeared, he noticed that Hiruzen finally arrived with twenty extra shinobi, five of hem seem to be medics.

Hiruzen noticed Ichigo the moment he began to approach them. "Ichigo! I've been wondering where you were. Kakashi told me that you were taking care of something, and that I should ask you in person."

Ichigo passed Hiruzen without so much as a glance, he placed his back against the wall before slowly letting himself slide down to the floor.

"Judging by the way you're acting, it's not good...is it?"

He shook his head, confirming Hiruzens thoughts. "Itachi is...gone."

Hiruzen sighed as he dropped his head in sympathy. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"No, you got it wrong. He's still alive. It's just, it was so...surreal. He...did this jiji. He did all of this, he took the life of almost every person in his blood line. He was about to kill his mother for kami's sake! His mother! The worst part was that he never bothered to trust us, he just kept it to himself the entire time. I...I think someone made him do this."

Yugao who was listening the entire time nearby along with Kakashi, couldn't believe what she was hearing. "No, he wouldn't allow someone to tell him to do this! Itachi's strong, I know that he would've killed the guy that tried to make him do this."

Kakashi nodded his head. "Yeah, I believe Itachi was just trying to protect someone or something, the mastermind behind this must've threatened him that he would destroy the person or thing he loves dearly."

Hiruzen hummed at the possible suggestions they came up with. "All of these suggestions could be possible, we still have no solid proof for Itachi's innocence. I'm sure he would be placed for execution when word of this reaches the council. For now, I believe it's best that we let him go, unless you guy's would like to see his head somewhere other than his body."

Ichigo shook his head. "As much as I hate to see him go like this, it's for the best right now. I'll get him back the moment we know what's going on."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow before speaking. "And who said you were doing this alone?"

"Itachi's my responsibility, I let him go before I could understand what he was trying to say."

"Um, earth to Ichigo. If you haven't noticed, we're a team. And no matter what the problem is, we'll get this done as a team in the end, no matter what." Yugao stated.

Ichigo stayed silent for awhile before chuckling, he stood up facing the two. "You guy's are the best team a captain could ask for. I'm glad that I got to work with you two for my Shinobi career."

Yugao smirked as he placed a hand on her hip. "That's what a team is for. We'll fight together, and if it happens, we'll die beside one another."

"What the cat said." Kakashi spoke pointing at Yugao with his thumb.

She playfully punched him in the arm for that. "Shut up, we're not wearing our masks tonight. Don't call me by my ANBU name."

Kakashi chuckled as he rubbed his arm. "Yeah, yeah, sorry kitty." That comment made Yugao scowl slightly.

"Alright, you two can flirt with each other later lovebirds." Ichigo smirked.

Yugao slightly blushed in embarrassment. "We're not in love!"

"You sure about that?" Kakashi teased.

"Oh shut up Kakashi, you know I already have a boyfriend."

"Yup." Ichigo nodded. "His name starts with _'Kakashi'_ and ends with _'Hatake'_."

"You guy's are asses." Yugao pouted as she looked away.

The two males began to chuckle as they clutched their stomach, trying to stop themselves from going into a full blown laughter. But failing in the end.

Hiruzen lightly chuckled as he watched the three leave the area. "Ah, the energy these young ones possess." He thought, he then turned his attention towards the shinobi he brought with him before ordering them. "Alright! I want the remaining three survivors to be placed in the hospital for treatment. This place will be on full lock down until further notice!"

The shinobi responded with a loud _'Hai'_! In response as they finished up what they were doing.

 _Somewhere in Konoha_

The now three ANBU team were walking down the streets in Konoha.

*Sigh* "I don't feel sleepy anymore after the shit that happened tonight." Kakashi spoke, his hands in his pocket as he gazed ahead of him.

Yugao nodded as she replied. "I know right? It's weird how in one moment you're exhausted but later, after a bizarre event, you're just fully aware of your surroundings."

"Say?" Ichigo scratched his head as he kept his eye's ahead. "You guy's wanna get a drink or something? It'll be on me." Kakashi and Yugao looked at each other before shrugging.

Kakashi nodded as he spoke. "Sure, we got nothing better to do anyways."

Yugao agreed with her white haired friend. "I don't mind. But, just stop me from drinking to much so I won't get a hangover."

"Great." He turned around smirking as he faced the two. "Because this will be our last drink until we get Itachi back. And when we do, we'll have ourselves a giant celebration."

The two smirked as they nodded at the suggestion Ichigo made. After all, this team doesn't feel complete without a certain Uchiha having a blast with them. It just won't be the same as they remembered it. What they don't know is that there's a long road ahead of them, and that their loyalty for their friend will be tested. Can these three bring back their friend, or will that bridge that connects the four be destroyed the moment they know who's he allied with?

Who knows? We'll see, in due time.

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **And done!**

 **Sorry for the wait guy's, I hope this chapter makes up for my absence. But, other than that let me know what you think of this chapter guy's. And if there is something that bothers you, then please Review or PM me the problem so that I can watch out for those type of mistakes in the future. You might not think they'll be helpful, but trust me, they are.**

 **One thing I would like to get out of the way before anyone asks. Hitomi is OC, ok. Not an actual character. She will appear in future chapters and also be in Ichigo's harem. Hope that clears things up**

 **One more thing, I've decided that I'm looking for a beta reader. If you do want to beta read, then you must keep a sharp eye for mistakes that I can make, and If you can. Try and suggest any better way I can write a sentence to make it more...enjoyable to read. If you are interested please P.M me, don't review. Just P.M me.**

 **So anyways, thank you guys so much for all of your support, and as always!**

 **I'll see you guys, when I see you guy's**

 **PEACE!**

 **P.S. If you guy's are interested in watching a new anime, then I highly suggest that you watch _Boku Dake ga Inai Machi_. A.K.A _Erased_. But I warn you, this anime can possibly give you the feels, so if you don't like watching those Anime's, don't.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everybody! Animelover54321 here and back! With a new chapter for the Leaf's Shinigami (Remake)! Now, before I get on with the story, I would like to clear something up with you all since it's pretty much bothering some of you. I forgot to mention the age's of our characters, so I'm going to say most of them. Here we go.**

 **Ichigo: 21 (For now, their will be another time skip later on the beginning of this chapter, so he'll be older when you begin reading this chapter. Same goes for all the other characters age's.)**

 **Kushina: 35**

 **Mikoto: 35**

 **Itachi: 18**

 **Kakashi: 20**

 **Yugao: 18**

 **Gai: 20**

 **Asuma: 20**

 **Naruto: 5**

 **Sasuke: 5**

 **Kuren-...You know what, you get the picture here guy's. I guess you can already tell how old a character you're interested in is right now. Now, before you say. Yes, the age difference on these characters are not a mistake. I actually meant to change them up for the benefit of the story line. So yeah.**

 **Another thing I would like to get out of the way. Because, over the past few days...or weeks. I've been receiving some PM's about not making this story a harem. I'm sorry guy's. But please look at the summary! What do you see in the end? ...Hm? Yeah, it say's harem. Look, I'm sorry if you guy's don't like it. I really am, but I planned this entire story out. So I'm not changing my mind. Once again, I'm sorry. (SO MANY SORRYS!)**

 **One final question...well not exactly a question. More like a statement from someone. How the HELL is Ichigo out of character. I'm not trying to be rude man, but I just don't see it. Is it his personality? Because if it is then I can probably say that you're plain up wrong. You see, Ichigo is a kind, caring, and protective person. Hell, at times you guy's can agree that he has so much on him that he just breaks down. I'm pretty sure that I'm doing a fine job on keeping that personality in check. It may not be him the entire time since he will act different a few parts in the chapter, but so far. He sounds like the same damn Ichigo to me. (At most parts)**

 **So yeah, I'm going to stop my authors note right here and get on with the story alright. So, without further interruptions!**

 **Enjoy the chapter.**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

It's been seven years since the Uchiha massacre took place, well. Almost seven years. And during this time, he got to meet a new person which he began to enjoy the company of. Even if he's the only one that can see her.

Yes, I said only one that CAN see her.

Ichigo stood in the middle of a training ground as he meditated, getting himself more aware and open to the world around him. He let the sounds of nature envelop his hearing, the dripping sounds of wet leaves falling into puddles below, the chirping of the early birds that sung around him, the rustling of the leaves that smacked against one another, the howling of the wind that picks up every few minutes, and the sound of feet sprinting towards him...wait feet?

He opened his eye's and turn to the direction the sound was coming from, only to be tackled to the ground by a small girlish figure.

"Ichigo!" The girl yelled as he held the orange haired man tightly around her arms.

Ichigo lay in shock for a split second, completely taken off guard from the tackling hug he received from the girl. "M-Mavis." His breath was slightly heavy as his heart was racing. "Don't do that again, you startled me for a second."

"Muuu, Okay" She pouted as she got off of him, allowing Ichigo to go back into a sitting position.

"So why are you here?" He questioned as he began to stand up.

Mavis fell on her back as she began to kick her legs up in the air. "I got bored scaring the villagers. And I want to talk to someone. And since you're the only person that can see and hear me...why not?"

Ichigo chuckled to himself at that. I guess that's pretty reasonable right? After all, a dead girl will get pretty lonely if no one will be able to talk to her. "I still don't really understand why you won't pass on to the afterlife." He spoke.

Mavis stopped her kicking before turning towards Ichigo. "I guess it's because I'm not ready yet? Or I just don't want to go." She smirked a cat like expression.

Ichigo scoffed at that before smiling, he still remembered the time he met Mavis. That day was worth every second of it in order for him to meet her.

 _Flashback 1 year ago_

 _Ichigo wandered around the outskirts of Konohagakure, it's been another boring day with nothing really important to do. And he'll be damned if he let himself wander the village aimlessly the entire day. He thought of visiting Hitomi again, seeing if they could hang out. But when he reached her front door, he saw a note sticking on it saying._

 _"Out for the day, I'll be home by midnight."_

 _That led him to wandering outside the gates. After seeing that there was literally nothing to do in the village, he decided to do some outdoor exploring and see how different this world's nature is from his home world. He continued to walk, that is until he saw her. A lone figure sitting on a tree branch staring pass a small lake in front of her with a waterfall attached to the other side. She looked small, really small actually. Like Rukia's height, probably and inch taller or so. But she was small for a fact. He saw that she wore a small white dress, with long flowing yellow-blonde hair that literally looked as if it reaches her feet. Her face was pretty cute if he says so himself, but trust me, he's no pedophile._

 _Ichigo grew curious on why a little girl was out here all on her own. After all, it's pretty dangerous out here if you're not careful on where you go._

 _"Oi, kid!" He called out as he made his way up towards the girl. This sudden action startled her from her spot. She turned back towards Ichigo before looking around her, trying to find the person he was talking to._

 _"What's a girl like you doing out here all alone?" He spoke as he now stood under the branch the girl was on. "Where are your parents?"_

 _The girl seemed shocked since her eye's widening by the second. "A-are you talking to me?" She asked._

 _Ichigo raised an eyebrow in confusion from the girls question. "Of course I'm talking to you. There's no one else here. What's your name?"_

 _"M-Mavis." She spoke, her voice was beginning to fill in hope. "You can actually see me?"_

 _Ichigo sighed, thinking that she was just playing a game with him. A game that he really doesn't want to play right now. "Of course I can see you. What do you think you are, some spooky ghost or spirit?"_

 _She gave no reply as her head dropped, her hair shadowing over her eyes. She soon began to sniff, as tears began to fill her eyes._

 _Ichigo was surprised at this, and now felt bad, thinking that he probably took this a bit too far. "H-hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"_

 _He was cut off when he saw her jump off the tree right on him. Ichigo caught her, but that catch made him take a few steps back in order to keep his balance. "She's pretty light, yet heavy on impact." He thought as he watched her cry in his chest._

 _A few minutes passed until it was finally over. Ichigo looked down at Mavis once more to see that she was now eyeing him intensely. "What?"_

 _"I can touch you." She replied._

 _"Of course you can touch me, we're alive."_

 _"N-no, it's not that." Mavis sighed. "It's just...how do I say this."_

 _"It's alright." Ichigo smiled. "You don't have to explain it to me. Just a simple word or two."_

 _Mavis sighed as she looked away. "I'm dead."_

 _"You're what?" Ichigo asked raising an eyebrow. "If you're dead, then why aren't you in the afterlife already?"_

 _Mavis turned towards Ichigo, a puzzled expression o her face. "You believe me?"_

 _"Well, if what you say is true, then you're technically not the first spirit I ever met."_

 _"Wait, there are others?!" Her voice began to fill with hope._

 _"Yeah...well. Not anymore since they're all pretty much gone, I haven't talked to them in a long time. But that's not the point here." Ichigo shook his head to get rid of such thoughts. "If you're dead, then all we need to do is to allow you to feel as if you have no more regrets in this world, so that your mind can finally rest." He clapped his hands together. "So, what do you regret doing, or what did you always wanted to do but never could."_

 _"Hmmm." Mavis placed a finger on her chin before shrugging. "No idea." She straightly spoke._

 _"Well great." He thought._

 _ **"Can't you just use Konso on her?"** The hollow suggested._

 _"Great idea! But oh wait, I forgot. We're in an alternate universe here, so if I use that on her, then there's no telling where she'll end up." Ichigo thought sarcastically._

 _ **"Hey, I'm just trying to help. No need to get all over my business."** He replied with his hands up._

 _Ichigo chuckled before turning his attention back to Mavis who was still thinking. "You know what, never mind about that. We'll figure that out in the future." He began to walk away from Mavis, after a few steps he began to notice that she was trailing behind him._

 _"Why're you following me?"_

 _"Why not?" Mavis replied. "You're the only person that can see and talk to me. So might as well stick with you."_

 _Ichigo said nothing as he turned his attention in front of him. "Sure kid."_

 _"I'm not a kid." Mavis pouted._

 _"You sure about that? Because you do look like a child to me."_

 _"I'll have you know that I'm 21 years old." She corrected before speaking softly. "Well that was the last known age I received before I died." Ichigo heard this, but said nothing, for he felt that it wasn't his place to be speaking about this stuff to her right now. After all, they just met about half an hour ago. A few minutes of walking later, Mavis began to whine about walking too much._

 _"Can we stop now?"_

 _"It hasn't been fifteen minutes yet."_

 _"But I was walking all day today!" She replied._

 _Ichigo sighed before turning to her. "I'm not stopping." He spoke before getting on one knee. "So I'll give you a ride while we're at it."_

 _"Yay!" Mavis yelled as she hopped on his shoulders. "I'm a big girl now." She spoke with a cute smirk._

 _"Yes, yes you are Mavis."_

 _"By the way, what's your name? You haven't told me through out our entire conversation."_

 _"Kurosaki Ichigo." He replied._

 _"It's nice to meet you Ichigo." Mavis smiled, causing him to smile as well._

 _"Likewise."_

 _Flashback end_

Yup, after a year of growing comfortable from each others presence, they became like a tag team. It really helped also knowing that Mavis was an excellent tactician. In fact, she was so good that he thought that she had the Nara clans genes inside of her. His thoughts of her broke away when he felt a presence appear not to far from him, he turned to see one of the old mans bodyguards standing there.

"Hokage-sama wishes to speak with you."

Ichigo nodded before replying. "Tell him I'll be there in a few minutes." With that, he watched as the Shinobi bowed in understanding before he shunshined away. He then turned his gaze towards Mavis before speaking. "Well, ya wanna come with me to visit the old man?"

Mavis nodded before leading the way, walking in a happy way, as if nothing in the worlds going wrong. "Let's go Ichigo!" She spoke.

"Yeah, yeah." Ichigo spoke as he followed. "I'm coming midget."

She turned around, blushing at the name he loves to call her. "I'm not a midget! I'm just really...really tiny." She pouted as she poked her fingers, causing Ichigo to chuckle.

 _At the Hokage Tower_

Ichigo made his way up towards the door that lead into the old mans office with Mavis now trailing behind him. He knocked on it twice before entering. "Oi Jiji, I heard you wanted to see me." He faced the old man who sat across the room, but he noticed that their was other people in as well. Two men and one female with very large melons.

"Ichigo!" Hiruzen spoke with a smile. "Just in time. I was just about to mention you." He gestured towards the seat. "Come sit, we have much to talk about."

Ichigo nodded, accepting his request as he sat down on one of the empty chairs the Hokage had placed earlier. "So, what do you need me for?"

Hiruzen sat straight as he had his fingers entwined against one another. "Before I get to that. I would like to introduce you to our guest." He gestured towards the three people. "Ichigo, this is Terumi Mei. And these two young men are her bodyguards Ao, and Chojuro."

Mei stared at Ichigo before waving. "Nice to meet you strawberry-kun." She smirked before thinking to herself. "He's quite the looker, I wonder if he's single?"

Ichigo felt a sharp pain on his back when he heard that. "Damn. It's been so long since someone's called me that, now I have someone calling me that name again...great." He thought while his left eye twitched a bit. "Nice to meet you to Mei." He smiled before turning towards her bodyguards. "You two as well."

Ao and Chojuro only nodded, showing that they meant the same way.

Mavis however stared at Mei's breast with annoyance, she stared long and hard at it before looking down on her flat chest as she poked it.

"What are you doing?" Ichigo thought as he saw this happen right in the middle of the room. Good thing no one else could see it, because it could end up making an entirely different conversation he has no intentions in getting into. He shook his head to get rid of such thoughts before giving his attention back towards Hiruzen.

"Ichigo." Hiruzen spoke in a way that showed Ichigo he was serious. "Mei here is a rebel leader, leading an army against their Mizukage for the tyranny he's done to his village. I would lend a hand to help them with the war, but I'm afraid that we're still recovering over the sudden incident that happened twelve years ago. So I can't afford to send any of our forces since that would make us more vulnerable than we already are."

Ichigo nodded at his explanation, understanding the hard decisions he has to make. But he also couldn't help but feel slightly worried. "Okay." He spoke. "And what do you have in mind that involves my presence here?"

Hiruzen sat back in his chair before speaking. "I want you, to go with Mei, and assist them in this war in any way you can provide. Sending you in there is like sending about 100 to 300 of my men to battle."

"Are you sure about this Hokage-sama?" Mei asked. "With all due respect, I don't think that one man will be enough. I'd rather leave here empty handed than to risk one of your men."

Hiruzen gave a reassuring smile towards the Rebel leader. "It's fine Mei. Ichigo here is one of my best, if not _'the'_ best Shinobi I have in my ranks. He can take care of himself." He turned towards Ichigo. "Right Ichigo?"

Ichigo hesitantly nodded before speaking. "If you don't mind me asking, how long will I be away?"

"About half a year, if everything goes out smoothly that is. However, if the war isn't finished by then, we will be asking for you to return."

He nodded again in understanding before he mentally cursed. "Damn, I won't be here for Naruto's graduation. Kushina won't be happy about this." He thought about the red haired mother and her thoughts about this. If he could say so himself, he would think that Kushina would be mostly disappointed out of all. Over the past seven years, he could see that she's been getting quite clingy on him.

 **"She liiiikes you."** The hollow smirked as he had both of his hands covering his mouth.

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo mentally replied. "She lost her husband for kami's sake."

Zangetsu jumped in the conversation. **"That may be true Ichigo. But it's been twelve years since that incident happened. She'll no doubt look for a new partner in life if she feels like it. And so far from the hints I've caught, she's definitely looking for a new partner, and it seems you caught her eye's."**

Ichigo stuttered something that he wasn't able to completely speak. He was blushing madly at the thought of what he just heard. Him and Kushina? No way, impossible. Besides, what would Naruto think of that? If Naruto came home one day only to be announced that his mother and his thought to be brother in blood got together. Yeah, that would take time to get used to...if ever at all.

Mavis who noticed this couldn't help but climb and sit on Ichigo's lap as she snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Ichigo? Are you there?" When she received no reply she pouted before making puppy eyes, "Muuu, pay attention to me Ichigo." She whined.

Ichigo couldn't help but snap out of his thoughts when his eye's fell on Mavis. "So cuuute." He thought as he began to pet her hair, causing her to give a cat like smirk in success.

"Eh Ichigo?" Hiruzen spoke noticing how he seemed like he was petting something. "What're you doing?"

Ichigo noticed what he was doing before he chuckled in embarrassment. "Nothing. I guess I was just...yeah."

"Okay then." Hiruzen replied. "Anything you would like to see done before your departure?"

Ichigo shook his head. "No, it's alright."

"Alright then." He turned his attention to Mei. "I leave him in your care from now until you guy's succeed in your revolution, or until his time serving you is over."

Mei nodded as she stood up before bowing in respect. "Thank you Hokage-sama." She spoke before turning towards Ichigo. "We leave by sunrise tomorrow at the gate." She received a nod from Ichigo in understanding before she and her two bodyguards left the office.

"If you don't mind, I'll be heading home to pack up." Ichigo spoke before exiting the door, not bothering to wait for an answer.

 _Back Home_

"Are you sure you have to leave." Kushina whined.

"Yes, I'm afraid so." Ichigo sighed in defeat as he searched for items he'll be taking on his long journey away.

"But you'll miss Naruto's graduation if you go." She replied, trying to find any excuse that would make him stay.

"I know, I know. And as much as I hate to leave on a mission for something important as that, it must be done." He looked towards Kushina before smiling. "Don't worry, I'll make it up to him, as well as you."

Before she could reply, Mikoto made her appearance when she exited her room. "What's all this commotion about?" She spoke with curiosity. "And why does it sound like you're leaving Ichigo?"

Ichigo sighed before replying. "That's because I am. I'll be out for half a year that is." When he saw Mikoto, he couldn't help but remember the moment she first moved in with them after Uchiha Massacre occurred.

 _Flashback 7 years ago_

 _It's been a few months since the Uchiha massacre took place, Ichigo just came back from an A-ranked mission that was meant to take out a few drug dealers down by the borders of Land of Fire. He approached the front door where he lived with Kushina and her son, Naruto, before opening it._

 _"I'm home!" He called out._

 _Kushina peaked her head out of the kitchen before smiling. "Ichigo! It's been a while." She spoke._

 _"Yes, yes it has. So how's it been?"_

 _"Oh nothing new, I was just doin-"_

 _"Kushina?" A voice sounded from her room. "Who's that?" As soon as those words were finished, Mikoto looked over at the door before smiling. "Oh, it's just you Ichigo."_

 _"Mikoto?" He raised an eyebrow, not expecting to have guest over when he just returned. "What are you doing here?"_

 _Mikoto turned towards Kushina with a confused expression. "You didn't tell him?"_

 _"Tell me what?"_

 _Kushina chuckled as she scratched her head nervously. "Ehe, Well you see. When you were gone for the week. I invited Mikoto to stay with us for as long as she needed since she didn't want to go back to her home after...you know?"_

 _Ichigo took a few seconds to think before sighing. "Alright then, not like I don't mind you having friends to stay over. After all, this is your house and you can use it however you wish. But next time please notify me before it happens so I know what to expect when I get home."_

 _Kushina inwardly sighed seeing that he didn't have any objections towards her decision. "Alright." She nodded. "Sorry for not telling you earlier."_

 _"It's alright." He replied before facing Mikoto. "So, how are you Mikoto? I haven't spoke with you in quite a while."_

 _"I've been doing quite fine, thank you for your concern."_

 _"And Sasuke? How is he taking this so far?_

 _Mikoto sadly sighed as she thought about her only remaining child she had with her. "I'm not sure, he's been acting so cruel and distant to everyone, myself included. I don't know what to do with him anymore."_

 _"I can talk to him, try and see if he can open up to me. After all, he likes my presence mostly after Itachi left the village."_

 _"Thank you, that would mean a lot to me." She replied, a hopeful smile presenting itself to him._

 _Ichigo nodded before speaking. "So, when are the two coming home?"_

 _"They should be arriving in a few minutes." Kushina spoke. "The academy should be over about now after all."_

 _"I see." He replied before taking a seat on an empty chair. "So what's for dinner? It smells pretty good in here."_

 _"Just some curry with chopped potato's, meat, cabbage, and carrots." Mikoto replied._

 _"Mind if I help?"_

 _"Sure." Mikoto pointed towards the cabinet. "Can you take out the necessary silverware, as well as 5 bowls and set them on the table."_

 _"Already on it." He smiled._

 _A few minutes later_

 _The front door opened allowing two familiar children to walk in._

 _"We're home!" Naruto called out._

 _Ichigo made himself known as he exited the kitchen. "Just in time, dinner is ready."_

 _"Nii-san!" Naruto yelled in excitement at seeing Ichigo once more after a week. He rushed up to Ichigo before throwing himself upon him._

 _Ichigo stumbled back a bit before chuckling. "Alright, Alright. I missed you too Naruto." He then directed his attention towards Sasuke. "I've heard that you and your mother will be living with us from now on." He smiled. "It's nice to see you again Sasuke. If you need anything, just come find me."_

 _Sasuke nodded after a few seconds before heading into the kitchen where he knew his mother was at, all while having a gloomy aura surrounding him._

 _Naruto saw this and couldn't help but remember a question he always wanted an answer for. "Say Nii-san?" Naruto looked up at Ichigo. "Do you know why Sasuke seems so sad. He's been like this ever since he returned to the academy after a few months of his absence."_

 _Ichigo ruffled Naruto's hair a bit. "Yeah, but it's not my place to talk about it." He glanced down at Naruto before continuing. "But Naruto, if you see that he's acting weird in anyway. If he looks like he's going to do something that'll harm someone, come find me. And I'll take care of everything."_

 _Naruto stayed motionless for a few seconds before nodding. "I promise." He spoke, making Ichigo smile._

 _"Alright, now lets go eat shall we?" He made his way towards the kitchen, Naruto right on his heels. However, before he can reach it, he heard a plate smash against the ground, followed by two surprised shrieks. He rushed in before speaking. "Are you guy's alright." However the sight that greeted him, made his blood boil. In front of him, Mikoto stood drenched in hot water that looked like it stung, but she seemed to be on the verge of tears._

 _"I'm sorry." She whispered in pain._

 _"What happened here?!" Ichigo spoke, he turned towards Kushina who stood still, completely surprised by the scene she just witnessed. He then turn towards Sasuke, who seemed like he had a very annoyed and angry expression._

 _"Don't mention him again." He growled._

 _"Sasuke." Ichigo spoke with narrowed eyes as his scowl formed. He walked up to him before placing a hand on his shoulder. "We need to talk." The two then disappeared in a flash, leaving Kushina to comfort her friend as well as the mess they'll have to clean up._

 _On the Hokage Monument_

 _The two appeared once more, standing high above the village they were in just seconds ago. "What's up with you?" Ichigo spoke. "What did Mikoto do to get you all riled up like that?"_

 _Sasuke glanced the other way, not liking the situation he was in right now. "You wouldn't understand."_

 _"Try me Sasuke. Because I have a lot of secrets myself I still haven't told a soul about."_

 _Sasuke clenched his fist before speaking. "Why..." He growled. "Why did he do it! Those words he last spoke to me before I...I passed out. He killed our entire clan! Our family! And for what!" His eye's twitched in anger. "I'm gonna kill him!"_

 _Ichigo stared into Sasuke's angry eye's before he sighed thinking to himself. "Sorry Itachi, but I can't allow your brother to go down this path of darkness." He scratched his cheek before speaking. "You mean Itachi right?"_

 _"Don't say his name." Sasuke hissed at the thought of him._

 _"No Sasuke. You need to know why he did this, or why I think he did this." He crouched till he reached eye level with the young Uchiha. "When I arrived with my team at your estate, I encountered Itachi. And I believe, he never wanted to do what he did."_

 _Sasuke turned his body to face him with a glare, yet a confused expression added. "What are you talking about-"_

 _"Don't talk." He cut off placing a finger over his lips. "Just listen. Itachi seemed, really...afraid, or something like that. In fact, we actually do believe that he's innocent. His eyes gave it away. When I spoke to him, I asked him why he was doing this. His reply was 'I can't say, they're watching'. He then spoke about how nothing will be the same after the things he's done. I came with a conclusion that he was trying to protect something, or someone."_

 _"Who then?!" Sasuke jumped in the moment Ichigo paused. After all the new intel he received, he wanted answers for them. If Itachi really is innoncent, then why did he run? He wants to know every last speck of information he can get his hands on. "What was he trying to protect? Who made him do this? I need to know-"_

 _"And you will get your answers. But in the meantime, we're left in a maze we still need to solve in order to figure out what's really going on. I don't know who set him up to this, but when we find him, he'll be locked up and tortured for the rest of his miserable life. I promise." He stood up, now looking down at the little figure that was Sasuke. "But before that, I believe you owe an apology to someone who deserves it."_

 _Sasuke looked down in shame before nodding. The moment he nodded, Ichigo grabbed his shoulder once more before appearing back in the house, right on time for the light of the sun would fade in a few minutes. They made their way towards the kitchen to find the three finishing up on cleaning the mess that was recently made._

 _"Kushina, Naruto." He spoke, catching their attention. "Can I speak to you two for a second?" He received a nod from the two as they approached him while he slightly nudged Sasuke forward._

 _"So what you need us for?" Kushina asked, only for her and Naruto to be pulled around the corner out of sight from the two Uchiha's._

 _Kushina squeaked in surprise at the sudden yank. "Hey, why'd you do that for-" She was silenced when Ichigo placed a finger on her lips._

 _"Shh." Was all he spoke as he slightly peaked around the corner. This action was shortly repeated by the two Uzumaki's a few seconds later. The sight that greeted the three was a mother and child hugging each other as they begged for forgiveness._

 _Kushina smiled at the sight before glancing at Ichigo as she thought to herself "You're amazing Ichigo, I'm so glad I met you." She felt her face getting red before glancing the other way with a hand on her chest. "Why do you make me feel this way?"_

 _Naruto however was having his own thoughts. "Why's Sasuke crying?" He smirked when an idea popped up in his head. "Hehe, wait until the others hear this."_

 _And so the five of them resumed their meal once more, this time with smiles on their faces as they spoke about their day. Not to mention the excited and interested looks the two children gave Ichigo as he spoke about his mission, especially the looks the two mothers were giving him._

 _Flashback end_

Ichigo shook his head before paying attention to the two females before him.

"Aww." Mikoto whined, as she also tried to stop him. "Are you sure you have to go? Sasuke would be devastated once he hears the news. You're one of the best things that happened to him after Itachi left."

Ichigo sighed once more. "I know, and I'm sorry for that as well." He finished finding the items he needed as they were tucked away in a small bag. "Like I said to Kushina, I'll make it up to you and him as well." He smiled as he stared at the two. "To all four of you."

In the end, they just gave up and allowed him. Hoping that he'll come back safe in one piece.

 _Next morning_

The sun was barely seen rising above the horizon as it slowly shined the village for another busy day that lay ahead of them. However, this day was the day our orange haired companion wouldn't see this village for a few months. Ichigo stayed awake throughout the whole night since he couldn't sleep. His thoughts were deeply set on the mission he'll be getting himself into. This was basically the first time he'll be going to war, not like any of the battles he had back in his world, but a war. Something that is on a completely different level than what he's use to. These thoughts worried him to no end. After all, wars are not to be taken lightly at all, no matter how strong or weak your opponent is.

He currently sat in the living room, his right hand on his chin as he couldn't get this feeling to die down. That is until the light flickered on, causing him to turn his head towards the source that turned it on.

"Ichigo?" Kushina asked as she rubbed her eyes, trying to take out the drowsiness from within them. "Why are you up so early?"

"Nothing really." He gave a reassuring smile. "I guess I was just an early riser today."

Kushina nodded as she yawned. Then all of a sudden it hit her, her realization on what's going to happen today. "So...you're leaving right?" She spoke in disappointment.

"Yes." He replied. "I guess so." He stared out the window to see the sun rising, _'we leave by sunrise tomorrow at the gate'_ , Mei's voice repeated through his head. "I have to go now." He stood up before grabbing the small bag he had left next to the door. "Tell everyone I said bye, please?" Once he received a nod from her, he opened the door before stepping out into the cool air that was engulfing his skin, the sudden change of heat gave him goosebumps for a second. He was about to shut the door behind him, but before he could, he heard Kushina call out to him once more.

"Ichigo!"

He turned around, wondering what she wanted to say. But instead he felt a pair of slender, smooth arms wrap around him, pulling him into a hug. But what happened next caused him to stiffen up. He felt a pair of lips touch his cheek leaving him really dumbfounded.

"Come back to me as soon as you can." That was all he heard before he heard the door shut on him.

Kushina leaned against the front door, her heart pumping faster than she has ever felt before. "I did it." She thought as a small blush formed on her face as she rewinds the memory that happened just a few seconds ago. "And it felt good."

 _Back outside_

Ichigo continued to stand there, then it hit him that he had somewhere to be. He shook his head as he grabbed the items he had dropped when Kushina, 'kissed', his cheek. He turned around, ready to head towards the destination he was suppose to meet Mei. However, his eyes caught a familiar female blond spirit grinning at from atop a fence as she had her legs swinging.

"So how was it." Mavis smiled.

"I don't know." He replied shrugging. "Fine I guess." He then began to walk away with Mavis in toe.

Mavis seemed a little disappointed at the simple answer. "That's it?"

"What do you mean that's it? It's not like it's going to be some Disney romance movie."

"What?"

Ichigo sighed as he smacked his head at saying something that made completely no sense in this world. "Nothing." He replied, his eye brow soon raised as he began to wonder. "Say, why are you following me right now anyway? You do know that I'm leaving for a few months."

Mavis skipped in front of Ichigo before she began to walk backwards as she smiled up at him. "That's because I'm going with you silly."

"Oh no." He shook his head. "You're not going anywhere near that war. You're going to stay here where it's safe and drink apple juice."

"Stop comparing me to a little girl!" She whined, she seemed like she was going to hit him, but that ended up with Ichigo placing a finger on her head keeping her from arms reach while she swung her arms everywhere.

"Attack of the Loli's." He muttered before speaking. "Whether that's true or not, you still look like a kid midget." He smirked.

Mavis soon gave up on trying to grab Ichigo, she wrapped her arms to her chest before glancing away with a pout. "Whatever, I'm still coming with you."

Ichigo stayed still for a few seconds before sighing. He knew how Mavis was when she gets into a mood like this, she won't give up until she gets what she wants. So in the end, he reluctantly nodded. "Alright, fine. But stay close to me."

Mavis smiled at her victory. "Okay!" She agreed before adding. "It's not like anyone can see me though."

"Yeah, that's true." He nodded as his thoughts wondered on how Mavis can't be seen by anyone but he can, he's not even in his body. I mean, sure Shinobi have Reiatsu mixed in with there physical energy allowing them to see him. But, if they could see him, can't Mavis be seen as well? "You are a mystery Mavis." He thought as he watched her skipped happily.

"Hurry up Ichigo!" She called as she waved towards him.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming."

 _At the east gate_

Ichigo turned the corner that's suppose to allow him to see the east gate. His vision caught sight of Mei and her two bodyguards, Chojuro, and Ao, as the three waited patiently for his arrival.

"Yo!" He called out as he raised his arm. "Sorry if I'm late."

"No problem at all." Mei replied with a smile. "We just arrived about a minute ago."

"Well that's nice to know." He sighed in relief as he stopped not to far from them. "Shall we go?"

Mei nodded in approval. "Certainly, I shouldn't keep my men waiting any longer." With that, the four, five if you include Mavis who was riding on Ichigo's shoulders, rushed out of the village heading towards Mizu no Kuni. Where the war is currently taking place for control over Kirigakure no Sato and other villages on its territory.

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 **And done!**

 **Another chapter finished for this story of mine, and let me just say one thing about our new character Mavis since some of you might be confused on who she is, or what's her purpose in this story going to be. (Not going to say, for it will be revealed in the future chapters.)**

 **Mavis is not actually an OC, she's a character I took from Fairy Tail. If you seen that anime then you already know who she is, but if you don't then might as well search her up because I suck at describing peoples appearance. Her full name is Mavis Vermillion, but in this story she will go by the name Mavis. No last name for she is an orphan and has no parents. (I don't think we even know her parents anyways, I haven't watched Fairy Tail in like 2 years.) But anyways, yeah she will most likely be the only character from a different anime in the story. So don't worry, I won't mix a third anime into this crossover because that will be kind of stupid in my opinion. There won't be magic either, but her powers will be similar to magic, but then again its not as well.**

 **So yeah, anyways. Leave a feedback for me, it can be anything. From compliments, to criticism, to how's my day going, to things that has no meaning to this story. Yeah, I'm all ears...well, eyes. But yeah, let me know.**

 **So anyways, thank you guys so much for your support, it really, REALLY, means a lot to me.** **And as always!**

 **I'll see you guys, when I see you guys.**

 **Peace!**

 **P.S Mavis age is 21**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everybody! Animelover54321 here and back with a new chapter for the 'Leaf's, Shinigami!' Now. before I head on with the story, I would like to reply to a few reviews. Names shall not be mentioned!**

 **Q: I have no complaints about this not having lemons. But 'me' going to mention Ichigo's diddly do thingy in chapter 2?!**

 **A: You're absolutely right! There's no lemons in this story as it says in the summary. BUT, I will post sexual lines once and awhile to spike the interest in the readers. So in a way, it's a lemon yet not really at all.**

 **Q: Don't nerf (Weaken) Ichigo's power.**

 **A: Don't worry, this time I will not take away his powers. Instead I will let him progress on his current powers, but he will mix some techniques with his Getsuga Tensho that can be related to what Shinobi's perform.**

 **For example, instead of Getsuga Tensho, he'll sometime's say Getsuga Rasen! This technique will be activated when he swings Zangetsu like he does when performing the Getsuga Tensho. However, instead of a large wave of energy, there will be three spiraling sphere's flying towards his opponent.**

 **Other than this, I will rank Ichigo's power up to when he's in the Quincy War, but you guys must understand that I have not even started on reading the manga yet. I have not read the Manga at all, so it will take awhile to reach the part everybody loves about our Orange hair Shinigami.**

 **I will answer a few more questions at the end of this chapter, so stay reading until then!**

 **So yeah, that's all I have to say for now. So without further interruptions!**

 **Enjoy the Chapter!**

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It's been a week since Ichigo's departure from his village. The five of them, well four excluding Mavis since she's a spirit, are currently in the vicinity of one of the many rebel HQ's Mei had installed during the war. However, this was no ordinary HQ, for this one was the main one out of all that held their most prized battle strategists and supply route's.

"We're near." Mei spoke.

A few seconds after she said that, Ichigo noticed that a huge wooden wall of some sorts covered with barbed wire had caught his eyes. He turned towards Mavis who had her chin resting on his right shoulder. This is why he didn't want her to come along, he knew that she would get tired of all the walking and demand for a piggy back ride. Normally he wouldn't mind her request, but don't forget that he's in the presence of other people.

"So what'd you think about this now?" Ichigo muttered loud enough for only Mavis to hear. "You can still turn back you know?"

"Nah." Mavis replied as she shook her head. "I'm already here anyways, so might as well continue with the ride." Her reply caused Ichigo to inwardly sigh in slight disappointment.

Before Ichigo could say anything, he noticed that they just arrived at the front gate. He watched as Mei knocked on the gate twice before taking a small pause and then knocking it three more times. After that, she took a step back as the huge gates slowly pulled open.

"A secret code huh?" Ichigo spoke with a raised eyebrow.

Mei nodded as she proceeded to walk passed the gate while the three followed a second later. "Yes." She spoke. "We can't tell who's really on our side or not. So only a hand full of our trusted men are proposed with the code to get in, the rest have to be with one of them if they wish to get in, otherwise they'll have to wait until one returns from battle." She glanced back with a smile. "Tell me Ichigo, are you a swords master?" She couldn't help but admire the huge cleaver he had strapped on his back.

Ichigo shrugged at her response. "A professional swordsman yes, but a swords master. Eh, I'm not quite there yet."

"I see." She replied as a beneficial thought popped up in her head. "Say, my bodyguard Chojuro is also a swordsman of some sorts. He's quite skilled actually but uh..." She leaned towards his ear before whispering. "He's a bit on the shy and poorly confident side." After distancing her head from his ear she began to speak up again. "You think you can help him?"

Ichigo thought for a few seconds before shrugging once more. "Possibly, but I wont guarantee anything."

"That's fine, anything to help improve him will do the trick." He replied. "Give me a few days an we'll see if he progresses or not."

Mei nodded as he watched him slowed himself down until he reached Chojuro who was walking in his own pace.

Ichigo smiled when he saw Chojuro glance at him. "You're Chojuro right?"

"Y-yes." He replied, an innocent look on his face.

"So what's its name?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your sword." Ichigo explained as he looked at his large weapon strapped to his back. "It does have a name right? It looks special."

Chojuro made an :o face before nodding. "Yeah, it's name is Hiramekarei. He can take on many forms."

"I see." He replied before pointing to his back. "This is Zangetsu, he's more like my partner."

"Aw." Mavis whined as she pouted. "I thought I was your partner."

"Don't worry." Ichigo muttered as he chuckled. "You are as well, no one can make better strategy's than what you come up with." The compliment made Mavis grin in pride for her intelligence on her planning.

Chojuro nodded as he gazed at his fellow swordsman's weapon. It seems to be as big as his Hiramekari, if not that, then it's even BIGGER! "T-That's an impressive looking w-weapon. It looks really in-intimidating."

Ichigo shrugged as he thought of himself wielding Zangetsu. "I guess it can be huh? I've never really thought of it that way." He paused momentarily, trying to find anything that would keep their conversation going. But before he can say something else, they arrived at their destination.

"We're here." Mei spoke, causing Ichigo to look upon a rather large looking building with well built defensive armor to keep it from being destroyed instantly. "We should head inside, the strategists are probably waiting for my report if we were able to gather any support from you guys."

Ao sighed as he lead the way. "What do you think they'll do after we report what we were managed to get." He spoke to Mei. "They had their hopes for at least a small platoon, I'm pretty sure that they'll really disappointed once we inform that we were only able to get one person." He turned towards Ichigo before speaking. "No offense or anything."

"None taken." He replied.

Mei sighed as he thought about the huge disappointment that'll come from the strategists. "I don't know, but I know for sure that it's not going to be good." She replied. They soon made it to a door that held all of their best strategists together. Mei entered the room as she spoke. "I've returned from Konoha." Her eyes laid upon 10 men in the room that stood around a large table that held a map of Mizu no Kuni and there bases that were scattered around.

"Ah Mei." One of them spoke, a greeting and hopeful smile on his face. "Have the Hokage sent any support?"

Mei shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't say that. But he did send one of his best men to fight along side us."

"One man?!" Another slammed there hands against the table. "What good will one man do?! This doesn't change any outcome of how our situation stands!" Pretty soon they all began to murmur towards one another in disbelief.

This continued for awhile, with all the muttering and comments of disbelief. The situation caused Mei to grow annoyed, and with a loud bang on the table, all was silent as they stared at Mei, startled by the noise.

"Good, you're quiet." She smiled upon the 10. "Now, before we get all 'crazy' on what just happened. I would like to introduce the man that the Hokage has sent to aid us." She turned towards Ichigo before nodding.

Ichigo nodded as he performed a small bow in respect to the 10 that stood before him. "Hello, my name is Kurosaki Ichigo. From now on I shall be under your orders until I am called to return to my village."

One of the men scoffed as he muttered. "Or until you're dead."

Ichigo heard the comment, but chose to ignore it and act like he didn't hear anything. Mei clasped her hands, giving all attention back to her.

"Alright, then. Now since that's out of the way, shall we proceed with the planning?" The moment she finished her sentence, they all huddled around the table once more discussing on the Mizukage's next attack.

"After successfully putting one of the Mizukage's base camps out of commission, we managed to salvage the remains of one of their maps that is going to attack one of our camps soon." A man spoke. "However, due to the incomplete paper we found, we have no idea which, when, or where they'll attack." One of the men spoke.

Another took the spotlight and placed his finger on the location the enemy will be bypassing. "They will be taking this route, but it ends here, that's all we managed to figure out." He took his finger off before rubbing his chin. "The thing weird about this is that if they continue on this route, they'll get nowhere. They're nowhere near one of our camps, not even by the slightest hint."

Ichigo walked up towards the table as he gazed at the spot the man last pointed at. With the help of Mavis, they began to study the map, along with the rest of population that was currently in the room.

"Ichigo." Mavis spoke. "What's that?" She pointed towards a very tiny looking scribble on the paper, this scribble was within about 50 mile radius from the path the enemy was taking.

"I don't know Mavis." He muttered to her. "You may have figured something these people have not...or forgotten." After receiving a smile from Mavis, he stood straight before speaking up.

"Say, what is this little scribble right here?" He placed his finger on the spot Mavis pointed at. One of the men glanced over the desk a bit to see what he was referring to, his eyes grew wide in horror in realization.

"That's where we send our critically wounded Shinobi to heal." This caused a few gasps to be heard.

Ao, who was also in the room slammed his palms against the table, his expression filled with anger as he gritted his teeth. "Damn Yagura, he's going after men who can't even fight back. What a cowardly approach he's making."

Mei narrowed her eyes as she spoke in a serious tone. "I want all available Shinobi to head to that area now!" She ordered.

"We can't." One of the strategists spoke. "Everyone who is available is to far away from to reach the medical base in time. By the time they reach it, no one will be left."

Mei clenched her fist in frustration. "How long do we have?"

"Judging by what we received, they should be arriving tomorrow at dawn."

"We can't send our Shinobi we have stationed here." Ao sighed. "If this place were to undergo an attack, we wouldn't have a decent defense to protect it. That means all of our battle strategy's and other camps we established would be in the hands of the Mizukage which he would no doubt use it to his advantage. We would fall like fly's."

Ichigo inwardly sighed as he leaned on the table. He studied the distance from there location to the path the Mizukage's men are taking. If he could go by himself, then he would be there in at least 8 hours. But that would be a suicide mission. He's going up against a platoon of shinobi here, there's no telling how many people they have or how skilled they are. He's not looking for an early grave right now, that's for sure.

Mavis couldn't help but realized the way the map was designed, if what she saw was correct. Then these people would have to cross through a very tight canyon to reach the medical base. A perfect spot for an ambush.

"Ichigo." She spoke. "I noticed that the enemy have to cross through a canyon of some sorts to reach the rebels medical base. If we can get to the canyon first, we can set up a few explosive tags on a few loose rocks that would topple and kill the platoon in one go. If not all of them, then at least most of them."

Ichigo smirked at what he heard. "This is why I'm leave the planning to you Mavis, you always come up with the best plans."

Mavis smiled as she puffed her small chest out in pride. "Well you are looking at the best tactician alive..."

"I think you mean-"

"I know what I said!"

Ichigo chuckled at her clumsiness. Now he can head over to the canyon and plant a few explosive tags and...oh. That's right, he can't use explosive tags, they won't activate with his reiatsu. "Okay, I'm going to make some explosive tags that'll activate with my reiatsu the moment I return. This is just annoying." He thought. "Hopefully I can figure out how they make it so I can continue on making some modifications."

This changes up some plans, he now needs to bring someone with him in order to get Mavis's genius plan going. He glanced around the room before his eyes fell upon Chojuro, a small smirk appeared on his face as he already knew who was coming with him. Hopefully he can keep up. So with that, he decided to inform the plan that Mavis came up with, but making it sound like he came up with it to avoid confusion and suspicion.

"Wait a minute." He spoke, receiving the entire rooms attention. "What if we don't have to worry about sending a small army of your people. What if we can do this with only two."

"I don't think that's possible." Ao spoke. "If we were to-" He was cut off when Mei placed a hand over his mouth.

"And what do you have in mind Ichigo?" Mei asked.

Ichigo pointed towards the canyon. "The enemy will have to cross the canyon in order to reach their destination. If I and someone else can arrive there before they cross the canyon, we would be able to set up a few explosive tags on any loose rocks above them, the explosion will cause the the rocks to fall on their heads and kill all or most of them."

The room stayed silent for a few seconds before Ao spoke up.

"That's, actually not a bad idea." He replied. "So who do you want to be sent with you?"

Ichigo smiled as he looked at Chojuro, he however began to look around, trying to find the person Ichigo was staring at. That is until it dawned upon him that he was his pick.

"I want Chojuro to come with me." He spoke. "I trust in his ability's as a swordsman and a partner."

Mei nodded immediately, seeing what Ichigo was trying to do to Chojuro. "Very well, you two shall be heading out in an hour. We have no time to waste. Our men's lives are ticking down by every second. We'll be sending reinforcements an hour or so after your departure to assist you if things go wrong."

Ichigo nodded before he left the room. Chojuro was forced to comply with this new mission placed upon him, no one gave him a choice.

 _A few hours later_

The two are seen moving swiftly through the trees, leaving little to no evidence of a trail to be tracked. As they continued, Chojuro couldn't help but wonder why he was chosen for this mission. Of course he knows that he's skilled, but...he's not 'that' reliable, is he? He shook his head, pushing the thought to the back of his head before resuming his concentration to stay on Ichigo's tail. This continued for a few more minutes until they came upon a clearing. After a while of jumping through trees, they finally landed set foot on the ground.

Ichigo smirked as his eyes laid upon the canyon before him. "We're here." He spoke. The two began to walk in the narrow path that could barely allow 10 people to walk side by side. "They should be crossing here." He spoke as he directed his gaze above him. "I want you to set up the explosives up there." He pointed towards a few large boulders on both sides of the canyon.

Chojuro nodded when he saw this. "What will you be doing?"

"I'll try to scout ahead a few hundred meters down east." He spoke as he pointed down the trail. "I want to make sure that our targets haven't passed through here yet. If they haven't, then I'll be able to see how many enemy's they brought with them." He began to walk away, but stopped as he glanced back with a small smirk. "I wouldn't complain if I were you, all you have to do now is plant the explosives and wait for my return, I'm getting myself into danger here."

With that, he disappeared in a flash to scout on ahead, all while having a small conversation with the two people he's been with the longest in this world.

 **"How're you going to assist the rebellion Ichigo?"** Zangetsu questioned. **"After all of these years, your power is not quite at its peak, but you have attained most of it back."** Zangetsu closed his eyes in thought. **"I'm still not quite sure how you still have your powers after using the Final Getsuga Tensho, but it seems quite reasonable that it's taking this long to reattain your powers."**

Ichigo scoffed. "Reasonable or not, I'm quite annoyed that it's taking forever."

 **"Well, you did use an ability that should've sapped every last ounce of Reiatsu you had."**

"Still." He sighed. "It's still a bit annoying that it's taking a while." He replied. "I mean, of course I am expanding the amount I carry by every second I train on using it, but not having it already completely filled. That's bull."

 **"Patience King."** The hollow spoke. **"You'll get your all mighty destructive power as we speak, but you just have to be patient."**

"You're the one to talk." He shot back. "The moment you realized you were in the same state as me you were going to go insane."

 **"Don't mention that."** He muttered with annoyed expression. **"That's different."**

Ichigo sighed before continuing his search. "I'm just glad I can use Bankai the way I'm comfortable with instead of conserving the amount I use up." He muttered

 _Twenty minutes later_

Ichigo appeared back where recently separated from Chojuro. He glanced around for a few seconds, looking for his blue haired companion. He didn't have to search long when he saw someone appear before him.

"So what'd y-you find?" Chojuro spoke.

"They haven't come through here yet thankfully, but I'm afraid that they came sooner than I thought they would."

"What do you mean?"

"They should be arriving here in a few minutes. There are probably 30 or 40 of them, I couldn't count them all or I'll risk myself of being caught." He explained. "I suggest that it's best if we hide ourselves from sight until the time is right."

After a quick nod was received, the two took their positions on either side of the canyon. Just in case any of the enemy's survive, they would be able to get the drop on them and quickly discard them as a threat. So in the end, they waited, and waited, and waited.

Chojuro spotted the platoon of shinobi taking their time to cross this canyon. It seemed as if they were enjoying their time away from their home, so they decided to take this mission nice and slow. A few seconds passed as they continued their approach. Chojuro glanced across the gap between him and Ichigo. He wondered if he should detonate the bombs now.

Ichigo noticed the stare Chojuro gave him, and he responded with a shake of his head saying that it wasn't the right time yet. He eyed the group patiently, waiting until the moment is right.

The platoon were now beneath them, this meant that they were now under danger they had no clue of. He turned towards Chojuro before giving him a thumbs up, signaling for him to detonate.

Chojuro nodded before he set the explosive tags off. They went off one by one in a parallel line that went on both sides of them. He watched as the huge boulders and chunks of rock fell down the gap between them.

The platoon were just enjoying their time away from their Mizukage. Don't get them wrong, they'll no doubt put their lives on the line to protect him like every Shinobi does for their leader, but they will admit that he can sometimes be a dick and a scary guy. It was weird because his personality changed instantly a few years back, it was like something possessed him.

Anyways, like I said. They 'were', enjoying their time. That is until they heard countless of explosives go off. The Shinobi's looked above them, only to see huge piles of rocks falling down on either side they came from. They knew that their chances of surviving this is very slim.

Throughout this entire massacre that was taking place, Ichigo and Chojuro stood above the danger that happened. Many cries of fear and surprise were cut short when the boulders hit the floor. When the first dozens of rocks made impact with the floor, dust began to pick up in every direction around the falling objects which formed a cloud of dust.

It took a few minutes for the dust to dissipate, what they witnessed was not as gruesome as they thought it would be. Sure they found countless of bloodstains of a few of the boulders. But other than that, all the guts and gore lay beneath the rocks.

"Well that take's care of everything." Ichigo sighed, he relaxed his guard since his right arm was twitching to pull out Zangetsu just incase anyone survived this trap.

"I m-must say, this plan worked out perfectly." Chojuro praised. "We didn't have to get our hands dirty." He glanced at Ichigo before speaking. "How did you know it was going to be a major success?"

"I guess it just came to me." Ichigo replied. He made a note to thank Mavis the moment they returned from this mission. "It's great that we stopped this attack, but now we need to evacuate this area before the Mizukage gets suspicious on his men's absence." He pointed out.

Chojuro nodded. "That seems like the best option we have right now." He spoke. "But I believe that we should wait until Mei-sama arrives with reinforcements. They'll assist us when we informed them of all that's h-happened."

Ichigo smiled as he nodded in approval. "You did great today Chojuro." He commented.

Chojuro raised an eyebrow. "All I did was plant bombs, It wasn't much of anything. You came up with the idea."

Ichigo chuckled. "Yeah that's true. But you finished it, you were the one that placed the final pieces to success." He placed his hand on Chojuro's shoulder. "Be proud of that, you're a great partner."

With that, the two waited patiently for the arrival of reinforcements.

 _5 months later_

It's been five months since Ichigo has been in war, and every second of it pushed him into a lot of stress he thought he would never attain in his life. Through out this whole event, his facial appearance changed as well. His hair has grown longer in length, it reached the bottom of his neck. And since most of the clothing he brought with him had been shredded on his right sleeve, he tore off the side leaving the skin of his right arm unprotected from the sun. (Pretty much he looks like his Dangai form, but without the chain wrapping around his arm. A bit of hair was also beginning to grow on his chin, which reminded of him of his father since the way it looked was almost exactly the same.

Anyways, besides all of the reintroductions and things like that. The rebellion have been doing really great the past few five months, they slowly recovered ground that was lost before. They had to thank all of that to a certain orange haired man. However, the real genius behind this was his companion, Mavis. He spoke her words through his mouth. All of that information they received, the new battle strategy's they formed, all the gaps they overlooked. All of that was passed on towards the strategists' and Mei.

But now, it was a day that would put an end to everything once and for all. Because today was the day they would fight the last battle to attain the victory many had thought impossible. A few days ago they received intel from one of their spies that the Mizukage has entered the war and is now heading in their direction. So Mei has made a decision that they will meet the Mizukage's army with every last shinobi they had, they'll be fighting blazing fire with large tsunami's.

Ichigo currently in a room having one of his best naps in a long time, but was awoken from a hyperactive Mavis when she began shaking him in an uncontrollable way. "Ichigo!" She chanted over and over.

"W-w-w-wha-a-a-a-t!" He managed to speak through the violent shaking.

"...Hi."

Ichigo sighed before sitting up. "Good morning to you as well Mavis." He rubbed his head in order to suppress the headache that was growing. He couldn't just sleep for a few more minutes! Can he?

Mavis smirked before getting off him, allowing him to stand up from his futon he had laid out. "It's almost time, you know?"

Ichigo groaned, the memory's of the final huge battle that will happen pretty soon rushed back into his head. "I don't wanna go." He pouted before collapsing back on his futon, arm crossed around his chest. He couldn't believe that he was acting like a child at this time, this is so not like him!

Mavis slightly nudged him gently. "Come on, get up."

"No."

"After this is over we'll be going back to Konoha." Mavis spoke. "It'll be great to see everyone again, right?"

"...Fine." He got back onto his feet. "I guess that's pretty reasonable." He then left towards a private room to freshen himself up while putting on a new pair of clothing he had left. He later came out and left the room he occupied to join the rest of the military as they prepared themselves to head out.

On the way, he met up with Mei who was shouting orders to her men to hurry up. All around the area people were hustling to prepare and restock on weaponry they were surely going to need.

Mei soon noticed Ichigo and couldn't help but smile as she saw him. "Ichigo." She spoke. "I see that you're finally up. If I didn't see you here in a few more minutes I was going to send someone to wake you up."

Ichigo chuckled lightly. "Trust me, I wouldn't even bother listening to whoever you sent."

Mei raised an eyebrow as a small flirtatious smirk crawled upon her face. "Oh, so I suggest you'll like it when I wake you up instead huh?" She dragged her finger across his chest before she nudged him a bit.

"And by wake me up, what do you propose?" He smirked back. He knows this game Mei has been playing with him since the second week he was here. She always tried to get him into an embarrassing position, and when she did, he turned into a blushing mess while speaking gibberish. He won't let that happen, so if she wants to play like this, then he'll just have to do it even better.

Mei paced around Ichigo as she slightly swayed her hips. "Oh I don't know. Maybe..." After a few more seconds, she leaned up into his ear and whispered something that couldn't be heard.

Ichigo almost tripped at what she said, but quickly recollected himself before she could further break him down. When he saw Mei pulling her head away, he wrapped an arm around her before pulling her in. "I suppose you wouldn't mind doing that right now." He smiled as his eyes gazed deeply into hers.

Mei felt as if her legs were going to give out any second the moment his eyes locked into his. She slightly blushed at the closeness before thinking to herself. "Oh, you're good Ichigo." Before she could retort with her own perverted comments, they were interrupted when they heard a cough. They looked up to see Ao staring at the two with a deadpanned expression.

"Uh, I don't know if you two noticed but we're kind of in the middle of preparing for a battle. So you...you know, wait until it's over."

Mei's eye twitched slightly. "Shut up Ao or I'll kill you." Two golf balls appeared on her hand before she crushed them without any mercy or effort.

Ao sweated as he covered his private area. "G-Got it." He nodded, with that he proceeded to fast walk away from the two.

Ichigo stared at the retreating form of Ao before turning his gaze to Mei. "Was that really necessary?"

Mei chuckled. "On him, yes it was." She replied, she soon noticed that Ichigo still had his arms wrapped around her. "You know you can let me go now, right?"

"Oh." He nervously replied as he scratched his head before releasing his grip from Mei. "Sorry."

"I don't mind." She spoke with a smirk. "Just let me know if you want to get touchy." She began to walk away from Ichigo, she still had a few problems she had to solve before they head out.

 _A few hours later_

After the departure from their base, a huge army of Shinobi was seen moving swiftly through the terrain they were in. Their goal was to hopefully put an end to the war once and for all by meeting the person that caused this in the first place. If they defeat him, then hurray, it's finally over. But if they don't, then at least they could retreat back to HQ to prepare for round two.

In this huge army that was moving, Ichigo hoped from tree to tree with Mavis holding onto his back which reminded him a lot of how Kenpachi carried Yachiru around. Such thoughts about the two Shinigami dispersed when he saw that his allies were slowing down around him. "We're here I guess." He thought before dropping from the branches.

He began to make his way towards the front of the huge population. He met up with Ao who was looking at the huge plain that was just a few meters away from where they stood. "Ao." He spoke, gaining his attention.

Ao looked back to see Ichigo.

"Why have we stopped?" When Ichigo spoke, he saw Ao turn back to face the view he was inspecting earlier.

"A scouting group we sent ahead of us just returned, they said that the Mizukage and his men are not too far away from us. They're about an hour or so ahead of us." He glanced back towards Ichigo. "If we wait here, we can set up traps and plan a surprise attack that will immediately give us the advantage."

Ichigo nodded, understanding the suggestion he made. "I see, the Mizukage has more shinobi with him than what we have." He replied. "It won't be smart engage him head on."

"Exactly." Ao replied. "Do you got any suggestions?"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Why are you asking me? I thought you already have a plan."

Ao hummed in approval. "Yeah, I do. But the planning you have been giving us has been working really well. We rarely lose any of our men in battle thanks to the strategy's you come up with."

Ichigo nervously chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "Hehe, I guess." He then muttered to himself. "Though, I'm not really the one to come up with such ideas." He noticed that Ao was still staring at him, expecting an answer that he will most likely agree with. "A little help here Mavis." He muttered to his little companion.

Mavis placed a hand on her chin before shrugging. "I guess just get the jump on the enemy, like set traps here and there." She scratched her head. "I don't know, I'm not all into the strategizing mood today." She rested her head on Ichigo's shoulder as she seemed sleepy.

Ichigo sighed before thinking to himself. "Not the best of her options, but it's good enough." He thought before repeating what Mavis told him to Ao.

Ao nodded in agreement. "I was thinking that as well." He replied. "I guess we'll just have to wait until Mei gets here and see what she has to say."

"No need." A new voice was heard by the two. They turned their attention towards the women who was making her way towards the two, and that woman was Mei. "I heard everything, it's a pretty decent plan if I say so myself." She crossed her arms as she stared out to the open plains ahead of them. "However, we'll have to hit them hard in order for this to work. It doesn't matter if we get the jump on them, if they manage to push back then the odds will turn to their favor."

"Yeah, I guess so." Ao sighed. "Strategizing sucks." He thought to himself. "Too many headache's."

"I suggest we get to work setting up a few explosive's up ahead in the plains." Ichigo suggested. "It could be like a mine field, we set them off the moment they enter too deep."

Mei nodded. "That'll deplete their forces rapidly. They'll be confused and panic for a few seconds before they pull themselves together."

"Exactly." Ichigo smiled before heading off somewhere else where he'll be needed.

During that, Mei had began to give orders to set up the traps. When she made sure that her forces proceeded to do as she said, she looked out into the wide plains ahead of her. As every second passed, she could feel that all of their struggles were soon coming to an end.

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 **And Done.**

 **I apologize for the wait everyone, I have been REALLY busy this past week. My schedule was booked, and I rarely found time to write. I did plan to make this chapter longer, but I have been keeping you guys waiting for quite awhile, and I believe you deserve another chapter. (Also because if I continue writing I won't be done until like next Friday)**

 **But yeah, before I finish this up, I will answer a few more questions or concerns some of you may have.**

 **Q: I understand that you're trying to speed up the story here, but the consequences of that reduces depths of plot and dullness to the story.**

 **A: Yes, I don understand that. It's just that I believe that I could've finished the scene in Konoha much faster than I did before. I put in 'way' to many unnecessary information and I was at Konoha for maybe 12 to 13 chapters! Yeah, I understand that it can cause a bit of disinterest in the story seeing how fast things are going. But in my opinion, I believe I could've taken those 12 to 13 chapters and combine them into 1 to 3 chapters so we wouldn't spend so much time on a scene that should've been progressed faster.**

 **And to finish this, don't worry. I will revert back to my original writing pace when I hit the Chunin Exams. (Well, Possibly the Wave Arc since I began to write a lot on that arc.)**

 **So anyways, thank you guys so much for all of your support. It has really been an exciting journey with you all so far, and as always!**

 **I'll see you guys, when I see you guys. (Which will probably be in 2 weeks. Depending on how fast I update my other story.)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everybody! Animelover54321 here and back with another chapter for the Leafs Shinigami (Remake). I thank you all for your patients on my next update, and I will try not to have anymore delays on my updating schedule. I don't want to keep any of you guys waiting any longer, so let's get on with the story shall we?! :D  
**

 **Enjoy the chapter! Or not...haters. XD**

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The sounds of explosions sent things into chaos. On both sides, the Rebellion and the Mizukage's army clashed with one another, both fighting for victory over the war. This was it, this was where their struggles' will finally be put to an end, whether they succeeded on over throwing Yagura, or they die trying. Either way, it will be over this day.

Ichigo stood in the midst of the battle, slicing down any opponent that got in his way of victory. He blocked a Kunai from a man that tried to impale him with it before he grabbed the guys wrist and twisted it, snapping his wrist in a not so pleasant way. When the man screamed in pain, Ichigo took the Kunai from his hand before shoving it in his skull, allowing him to fall to the floor without any resistance. He stepped over the dead Shinobi in search of their leader. The sooner he takes him down, the less lives would be lost over this war.

"Zangetsu." Ichigo thought to his friend.. "Any large amounts of Chakra being exposed?"

Zangetsu closed his eyes for a few seconds, in search of a very large and dangerous energy. He soon opened his eyes before nodding. "Yes, other than our allies, I've sense a rather challenging opponent about a kilometer or two, it's coming from North East. But be careful Ichigo, I feel something else within him that's being suppressed, and it's monstrous."

Ichigo nodded, thanking his partner for informing him of his new target. "If this is Yagura, I might as well meet him first before Mei, Chojuro, or Ao does." He thought before proceeding to his destination.

All while taking out enemy's left and right, or just pushing them aside to fight an ally. He mentally patted himself on the back when he made the right call on leaving Mavis behind. Sure she wouldn't be affected by any of this since she has pretty much faced war, also because nobody would be able to see her. If he did bring her along, it would just hold him back from finishing this war. Which he really does not need right now, for he wants to go back to safe and familiar grounds.

 _With Yagura_

Yagura just finished taking a life of another traitor that sided with the rebellion. For him, he only saw these enemy's as a nuisance, nothing threatening but a little tea party that has their disagreements on his view on the world, a waste of space in the Land of Mizu. So he only gave them one option every time he had an enemy under his thumbs, join him or die. Most of the time they cursed his name, saying that he'll never have his way in this world. That's the moment he took to end their miserable lives, for if he didn't he would just keep hearing the dog bark out threats that never fazed him.

"Another useless tool put to death." He muttered before looking off in a direction.

He felt it, something strong and powerful coming his direction. The large amount of energy that confused him, for he never felt anything like this before. Not only that, but he felt something else in this person, like their was something else in him.

"Another Jinchuuriki?" Yagura thought, curious on who this person might be.

Did the rebellion recruit a Jinchuuriki without him knowing, if that's the case, then that person will get the same judgement as everyone else he's come across. Join him or die.

And so he waited for his opponent to arrive. If he doesn't join him, then there's always the option to make an example out of him, and what better place to do that besides in a midst of a war where so many people are present in? That'll extinguish the last of the rebellions hope if he displays that he can take out their strongest ally in battle.

A few minutes passed by, and to no doubt Yagura caught the presence of an orange haired individual making slowly making his way closer to him, his men stood no chance against him for reasons he can understand.

Ichigo stopped a few meters away from Yagura. "So, you're the person that's in charge here." He studied his opponent from head to toe. "I'm surprised a kid like you is feared across Mizu.

Yagura took great offense to what Ichigo called him, but he hid the annoyance well as he continued to gaze at him neutrally. "I'll have you know that I'm 23 years old." He spoke, slightly surprising Ichigo.

"Great, another Mavis." He thought. "Except he's a boy."

"Why do you side with these rebel scums?" Yagura began. "They're just using you for your power, and when they see that they have no need for you anymore, they'll just toss you aside like all the other Jinchuurki's. I know what it feels like to be hated on for something that's not a part of you." He extended his arm out. "That's why we Jinchuurki's must stick together, through thick and thin. We all understand one another."

Ichigo blinked a few times as he processed what Yagura said. He, a Jinchuurki? Hah! That's one of the most ridiculous things he's ever heard of in his life.

 **"He's probably felt my awesomeness that's sleeping within you."** The hollow smirked, taking great pride in his power.

"Sure." Ichigo replied with an eye roll. He sighed before facing Yagura once more. "Sorry to break it to you, but I'm no Jinchuuriki. I can say that I am similar to one, but I am definitely no Jinchuuriki."

Yagura raised an eyebrow. "Then what's this demonic, dark energy coming from deep within you."

 **"HEY!"** The hollow yelled. **"I'm no faggot ass demon! I'm a hollow! We are twice as more badass then those dumb spirits with horns and a hoof or whatever."** He grumbled.

Ichigo, who chose to ignore his pale self's rant on comparing demons and hollows, replied to Yagura's confusion. "That's something that's been special with a certain few of my kind, not really much.

Yagura narrowed his eyes. "So if you're no Jinchuuriki, then that means you have some type of bloodline don't you." He grabbed his staff that has two uneven hooks on both ends of the weapon. "All bloodline's must be eliminated, for those who possess them are not human." He got into a fighting stance.

Ichigo hummed. "Well, I guess that make's you a threat." He muttered to himself. "Well he was a threat in the beginning." He grabbed Zangetsu from behind his back before stabbing it into the ground in front of him, keeping his grip on the sword just in case Yagura tried to make any surprise attacks.

The two stared down at one another, both the Rebels and the Mizukage's forces moved out of range when they noticed two monsters were about to clash, they'll either fight at a distance away or risk being blown to bits from the two.

A few seconds passed, and Yagura decided to take the first move. He rushed at his opponent, spinning his staff while he does it before he jabs it forward. Ichigo with the palm of his left hand, pushed the weapon to the side before swing his sword up. Yagura leaned to his right before readjusting his grip on his staff, with great agility, he pushed himself off the ground from his staff as Ichigo held it in his hand.

The sudden twist forced Ichigo to let go, allowing Yagura to fly over him with his weapon fully secured once more. "He's good." Ichigo thought. "Not to mention he has great agility, he'll be slippery to get a solid grip on."

He gripped Zangetsu with his right hand before slicing downwards, causing the ground to crack as his slice radiated off of strength alone. It looked like a wave of barely visible wind speeding towards his opponent. "Got to say, all that training really paid off." He thought with a smirk. With just a swipe of his sword, he could shoot out long ranged attacks. They were not a Getusga Tensho, for he did not poor reiatsu into his blade to fire the blue wave of energy. No, he did this out of his pure physical ability. That just showed how destructive and deadly his cuts can be.

Yagura was forced to jump to the side when he saw this, for he had no possible time to block or deflect the attack, that's if he could in the first place. He regained his footing before performing a few seals, he then pointed his palm at Ichigo before yelling. "Water Style: Hand of Waves!" A large amount of water blasted from his palm at dangerous speed.

Ichigo rushed at the liquid, he raised Zangetsu before slicing down on the large string of water, forcing it to burst apart and dissipate. As it exploded, he dashed forward through the water trying to surprise his opponent. Unfortunately, he underestimated Yagura's speed when they both clashed their weapons with one another.

"I must say, you're stronger and faster than I thought you'd be." Yagura spoke as he gazed into Ichigo's eyes with a blank face. "Let's see how long you can keep up, shall we?" He pushed away, launching himself in the air.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" He shouted, before spitting out a giant liquid dragon.

"That's my line." Ichigo thought before charging at the dragon head on. With a swipe of his sword, he dispersed the dragon before it could reach him.

Yagura watched as his Jutsu got taken down with ease, he expected Ichigo to dash right through it to clash against him once more, but he got to confident of himself, which cost him greatly. He felt dangerous and destructive energy coming together behind him, too close behind him. He turned around to see a wave of blue energy pulverize him to the ground below.

"You're getting to full of yourself Yagura." Ichigo spoke casually eyeing the area where his opponent impacted on.

Yagura slowly got up, parts of his clothing torn, he breathed heavily as he glared at Ichigo who stood on the air.

"What're you going to do?" Ichigo spoke as he widened his arms to the side. "I have the sky. It's clear that I have the advantage right now."

Yagura suddenly began to chuckle, he grabbed his sides before he went out in a full blown laughter.

"That doesn't sound good." Ichigo thought.

" **Of course it's not good!"** The hollow replied. **"Everyone who laughs at his opponent that has the advantage always have something up their sleeve. Don't you dare give him the advantage king! Not like those other dumb people who continued to fight their opponent as they are, FINISH HIM!"**

"Alright, Alright, geez." Ichigo sighed. "Someone didn't get their morning drink."

 **"I actually didn't."**

ANYWAYS! Back to the situation in hand, Yagura smirked at Ichigo before speaking. "I wouldn't be too sure of that." He hopped backwards a few times before his feet stood on something wet.

A light bulb over Ichigo's head flickered on when he saw what he was doing, all while his hollow continued to scream at him at why the hell he was standing there instead of finishing off Yagura.

"Oh." He thought. "That's...unfortunate."

Yagura stood on a large mass of water that stretched out for a few kilometers, and it was deep. Really, really, deep. Waters bad, very, very bad right now. "Let's see how you'll handle yourself now!" He threatened as he let his seal loose, allowing the beast within him to emerge from withing him.

Ichigo eyed Yagura as a creature slowly began to grow inside under him. It continued to grow until Yagura now stood on even heights with him.

"Wow!" Ichigo spoke as he eyed the beast. "I guess this is one of the legendary tailed beasts I've heard about, it's said to be that they're the strongest beings alive right now." He noticed the three tails that swayed behind the giant turtle monster. "And judging by how many tails there are, this is the Sanbi."

Ichigo smirked. "Well this day has gotten a whole lot more interesting." He always wanted to test his strength against a strong being, and what better way than to go all out against a tailed beast?! This was going to be fun, that's a fact. He prepared himself, getting into a fighting stance before he went head on with Yagura and the tailed beast. Unfortunately, things went down south for him.

"Ichigo?!" A voice called out to him.

Ichigo turned his head to the side to see who was calling for him, he caught Mei making her way towards him to aid him in this fight. "Mei-"

Before he could fully call her name, he was smacked out of the sky from a tail the Sanbi swiped at him.

"Ichigo!" Mei yelled as she reached him.

Ichigo slowly and dizzily began to stand up. "Don't - Don't do that again." He spoke. "If you see me fighting someone, don't call for me, don't mention me, don't even think of me or else this will happen." He rubbed his head. "Okay, maybe not the don't mention or think of me part, but don't call me!"

Mei sheepishly scratched her head. "Sorry."

Ichigo nodded before facing the Giant beast in front of him. "Are you up for a fight?" He spoke, brandishing Zangetsu around for a second.

"Always." Mei replied with a smirk.

The tailed beast let out a roar, causing the ground to tremor in it's destructive power.

Mei made the first move as she performed a few seals. "Lava Release: Lava Spray." She spat a jet of lava upwards towards the sky. The large chunk of flaming hot liquid spread apart from one another falling upon the tailed beast.

As soon as it made contact with the monster, it began to build up steam from when the Lava touched wet, cold, liquid. The Sanbi let out another roar before swiping his tail at the two, forcing them to jump out of the way or risk being injured. Not only that, but the Sanbi continued to let his rage out on the two, swiping his tail or claws at it tried to hit one of them.

Ichigo jumped in the air once more, he grew frustrated at having to dodge the beasts swipes every time he landed. "Getsuga." In mid air, he swiped Zangetsu, unleashing a wave of blue energy from his blade. "Tensho!"

The wave of energy smashed against the monster, forcing it back a few yards before it shook the pain off and glared at Ichigo.

 **"Uh King, I think you only pissed it off even more."** The hollow spoke, sweating nervously.

"I think I did."

The tailed beast got on land before he rolled into a ball and charged at Ichigo, intending to squish him for the not so much effective attack he's released.

Ichigo flashed away the moment the beast was right above him. He shot another Getsuga Tensho at the Sanbi with extra force, but once again the beast shook it off as if nothing touched him in the first place.

Mei landed next to Ichigo as she gazed at Yagura's strongest weapon against them. "Nothing you throw at him is affecting him." She spoke worried for there current situation right now.

After everything they went through, all the pain they've endured, the lives they lost, the hope that disappeared yet somehow always comes back. It can not end here over some beast that they can't take down.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes at the beast that turned its attention towards the two. "He'll come down Mei, one way or another, he will break." As he thought about what he could do in this current situation right now, his thoughts finally lighted up on a certain power boost he's forgotten all about.

He smirked thinking of his potential power he's acquired since his fight with Aizen, for he hasn't even used Bankai in a long time. Well, there's only one way to figure out how far he's come, right.

"Mei, you may want to get out of here for this." He spoke, a confident smile expressed on his face.

Mei wanted to protest, for she knew that Ichigo could not take on a tailed beast like this. But the look she saw in his eyes stopped her from speaking out, she reluctantly nodded before speaking. "You better be alive when this is over." She spoke before leaving to aid her other troops on pushing the enemy back.

Ichigo sighed before directing his full attention to the tailed beast ahead of him. He gathered his Reiatsu in him, giving him an appearance of a god that will not be trifled with, even for a second.

"Ban-Kai." He muttered, releasing his energy that he's built up inside of him creating a bright blue pillar of energy. As it died down, giving him a full description of his new form. It wasn't really different as much, the only thing that changed was his sword that was now smaller, colored black, and had a chain attached to the hilt of the blade.

Ichigo gazed at the blade he hasn't used in awhile, he swung it around a few times before letting out a satisfied grunt. "It's been awhile Tensa Zangetsu." He thought as he continued to gaze on the shiny black blade, admiring its beauty.

He never noticed that the Sanbi went for another strike until the last second. And when he did notice it, all he could do was smirk. As the beasts tail smashed on top of Ichigo, crushing him into the ground. The monster lifted it back up in the air, expecting to see a crushed body with blood everywhere. The beast growled in confusion when he saw no one there, and soon enough, it heard a whistle coming from behind him. When it turned around, it was greeted with a wave of black energy with a red outline smashing against its humongous form. But he shook off the pain once more, as if nothing ever happened.

Ichigo scowled as he saw that his Getsuga Tensho did absolutely nothing once more. "Okay, that shell and hard skin that covers him is no ordinary defense." He sighed in annoyance, for he has never really been in a situation like this in awhile. But every person has a weakness, be it human, or not, they all have something that's vulnerable. He studied the beast from head to toe, trying to find something that showed any extra caution on him. He soon noticed that no matter what, the tailed beast always kept one eye closed and another open.

A few seconds passed before he smirked knowingly on what he's about to do. "I see." He thought. "Every spot in his body is tough to break through, rendering it pretty much impossible to bypass it. Well for now at least." He thought. "Well then, if I can't injure its body, then I'll just have to blind it and force it back inside its seal."

He dashed at the beast, ready to complete and end this mission once and for all. The Sanbi seemed to know what he was doing, for it began firing giant masses of water at him. Since the balls of water were so big, he was forced to flash step passed many that were fired at him. The Sanbi swung its left claws down on Ichigo seeing that he was now right under him, only for the orange hair to jump on its arm. He then raised his right arm to crush Ichigo on his arm.

Ichigo saw the giant hand intending to smash him, so he sent some energy to his blade, making it begin to glow black once more. He then swung his sword. "Getsuga Rasen!" He shouted as a wave of energy shot from his blade before spinning into a large spiraling ball. The attack hit the Sanbi's hand, forcing it back from reaching him. "Got to thank Jiraiya for showing me that Rasegan of his." He thought with a smile before jumping from its arm towards its head.

The Sanbi noticed how close Ichigo was, since he was now right in front of his face, its pupils glued to every movement Ichigo does.

Ichigo saw noticed an arm swinging down on him, intending to smack him out of the sky, but he disappeared in a flash before it could get close to him. He reappeared only inches from the Sanbi's eye before stabbing his blade forward with a mighty roar.

The Sanbi stumbled back, its vision dark on its left eye for it was now blinded by the blade. It roared in pain, causing tremors to radiate through the ground.

"There goes one of its eyes." Ichigo thought as he flashed away from the beast, not wanting to face the next attack from point blank range. "One more to go."

It took a few seconds before the beast opened its other eyes as it searched for the person responsible for his injury, it spotted him a distance away from him, rage filled its eyes when he did.

Ichigo expected the tailed beast to charge at him in anger, but was confused when it continued to stand there, rage clearly seen on every inch of its figure. Then something happened, something that he really, really didn't like the feeling of. The Sanbi opened its mouth, a dark purplish ball slowly grew. And by the feeling of it, it was sure going to be destructive.

"This is not good." Ichigo thought as he glared at the beast.

 _With Mei_

Mei continued to aid her forces from pushing the enemy back, and to their joy, they were actually doing it. She noticed a colorful object a distance away, and when she clearly saw what it was, her eyes widen in horror.

"Fall back!" She yelled, confusing both rebels and the Mizukages army. But they soon complied after noticing what she saw, next thing everyone knew was swiftly getting away from the destructive power that was soon to be unleashed.

"Get out of there Ichigo." Mei thought as she retreated along side her forces.

 _Back with Ichigo_

"It's no good." He thought. "Judging by the power behind it, the blast radius will be too large for me to escape in time." All hope seemed to drain from his eyes as he couldn't find anyway of possibly surviving this.

 **"Ichigo."** Zangetsu spoke. **"Use it."**

Ichigo's eyes slowly realized what he was saying. "What do you mean use it?! I don't even know if I could control it yet, remember the last time I used it!"

When he was using a new attack that he was training to master in one of the training grounds in Konoha, he pretty much destroyed the entire place and parts of other training grounds next to him. That's when he promised himself he wouldn't use it unless he was 100% confident that he could be able to use it without any problems.

 **"I know what happened last time, but right now you need to use it now, whether you've mastered it or not, there's no time!"** He spoke. " **Besides, look at it this way, you'll be even more powerful when you use your mask."**

Ichigo still had doubts roaming his head, who knows what could happen this time, he could possibly blow himself up if he makes any mistakes.

 **"Don't worry king!"** His hollow spoke. **"Just remember what I taught you on how to control, and perform it, just let it flow through your body."** He coughed before speaking once more. **"Oh yeah, you better decide now, because it looks like he's about to fire that bomb looking thingy at us any second."**

Ichigo sighed as he nodded. "Alright." He spoke as he got into a stance. "If this doesn't work, then hopefully I'll see you guys in the afterlife."

He pointed his blade forward with his right arm before placing his left arm over it to give him extra strength for whats about to come. He took a deep breath as he closed his eyes, letting his Reiatsu flow from his body to his sword once more, but adding twice as much than before.

Just as he was building up his Reiatsu, the Sanbi shot the tailed beast bomb at Ichigo at high speed. A black ball with a red out line the size of a baseball formed on the tip of his blade, Ichigo's eyes snapped open before he yelled.

"Cero!"

A pillar of black energy shot from his blade before colliding with the tailed beast bomb, it stayed like that for what felt like hours for Ichigo, he kept pouring his Reiatsu, praying that the ball would be overwhelmed by his attack. And to his glory, it did. His black pillar shot through the dark purplish ball before colliding with the tailed beast as it let out a roar of shock and pain.

The beast fell, already unconscious before it even touched the ground. It then proceeded to fade back into the seal that Yagura possessed as he was revealed once more, bloody, and no doubt dead.

Ichigo fell on his right knee as he used his blade as a support from falling, he slowly and weakly pushed himself back to his feet as he walked towards Yagura's deceased body. He looked down at the man in pity, for he knew for a fact that he never wished to do this to his village. The peaceful face that now revealed his true self that lay in deaths grasp, if he never became like this, then he wouldn't mind getting to know him.

He sat next to the corpse as he looked up at the sky that was cloudy during the time they were fighting, but now it seemed like it was beginning to clear up thankfully.

"All's well, ends well." He muttered before sitting in silence for a few minutes.

He soon heard a rushing of footsteps closing in on him, he never bothered looking at the direction it was coming from for he already knew who they were.

"Ichigo!" He heard, he turned around to see Mei rushing towards him before wrapping him in a tight hug.

"Ow." He thought.

"You idiot, I thought you were dead." She spoke as she began to chuckle. She then expressed a look of extreme curiosity. "How did you survive?!"

Ichigo raised a finger as he took a deep breath, getting many people to listen on what he had to say.

"That's for me to know, and for you to try and figure out." This caused many to fall over at his response.

He stood up before gazing down at Yagura. "He seems to be in peace now." He spoke. "I don't see how someone as innocent looking as him could do this to so many."

Before she could say anything though, many of the Mizukage's forces who just realized that their leader was dead stood in a state of shock.

"M-Mizukage-sama..."

"...is dead." Another finished.

They all looked at one another before throwing their weapons and hands in the air in joy. The rebels soon joined in as well as the two forces who were at each others necks not so long ago were now hugging, celebrating, and apologizing for everything they put each other in.

Mei smiled as she stared at the scene with warm eyes. "It seems like there were many who were too afraid to lift a finger against Yagura." She sighed. "I'm glad it's over."

Ichigo nodded as he was about to head back to base, but was halted when someone grabbed his leg. He looked down to see Yagura breathing heavily as coughed blood.

"They're coming." He spoke. "Protect your...Jinchuuri...ki." With that, he let out his last breath before fading from this world forever.

"What's he talking about?" Ichigo thought, he looked over at Mei who only shrugged, not knowing what was going on as well.

Ichigo sighed as he crouched and closed Yagura's eyes that were left open, he then picked him up before walking away.

"What're you doing with him?" Mei spoke.

"A Mizukage deserves a proper burial, no matter what he's done." He replied as he continued making his way through the crowd who parted when they saw who Ichigo was carrying.

 _Two Weeks Later_

It's been two weeks since the war has ended and Mizu has slowly began to heal its scars that were left vulnerable to the world. It was currently night out at HQ, Ichigo was going to depart tomorrow morning seeing that he's already healed and rested after the war. But right now he was summoned to speak with Mei for something that she said she wish to speak in private about. After getting Mavis to wait for him back at his room, he proceeded to head towards Mei's room.

When he's returned from the battle bloody, hurt, and tired. Mavis got into a state of panic as she began checking him all over for any critical injuries. That moment she stayed really clingy to him, for she was afraid that he would get into another hard fight that'll get him killed. So it took a lot of persuasion to get her to wait for him.

Besides that, he now stood in front of Mei's room. He knocked the door twice before entering. "Mei?" He called out. "Are you here? I've heard you wanted to speak to me about something."

"Ah, yes, Ichigo. I'll be there in a sec." Her voice came from her bathroom.

Ichigo shrugged before taking a seat on her bed as he studied the room. A few minutes later he heard a knock coming from the room, he turned his head to see Mei, but he slowly began to heat up when he saw her choice of clothing. She was dressed in black lingerie nightgown which gave a clear view that she has white panties and a bra.

"W-What are you doing?!" Ichigo yelled, covering his eyes with his arm as he turned around. "Put something on!"

Mei giggled as she made her way towards Ichigo, she got on the bed as she crawled towards him before pushing his breast against his back, making him jump in surprise. "Oh come on Ichigo." She purred. "We both know that you like what you see."

Ichigo felt a shiver run up his spine as he felt her breast rub up and down his back. "I-If this is about that game you and me played, then you win, just stop this already." His blush continued to intensify.

"Damn it, get a hold of yourself!" He yelled to himself. "You faced death head on yet you can't even face an almost naked girl!" His mind seemed like it was running a million miles per hours as he couldn't get his thoughts off the sensation he was feeling.

"Guys, a little help here?" He spoke to his two partners.

 **"Sorry Ichigo, but you're getting laid today. I will not be wielded by a man that hasn't gotten laid that's almost 30 years old." Zangetsu spoke.**

 **"He's right king." The hollow spoke. "Do us all a favor and get some ass, you deserve it."**

With that, they cut the connection between them, leaving Ichigo alone to a night that will make him even more of a man.

 **Lemon Start**

 **Lemon End**

 **(Remember, no lemons!)**

The two are now seen panting as they lay in each others arms at the moment they both experience together. And to Ichigo's surprise, Mei was indeed a virgin as well. For a girl like her, he would expect that she's already done this thing with other men, but surprisingly he was the first, why did that made him feel great?

"That was something." Ichigo spoke tiredly between breaths.

"Yup." Mei replied, also exhausted. The two soon fell asleep in each others arm, enjoying their warmth, for they will not meet again for a long time.

 _Next morning_

Ichigo slowly woke up before sitting up from the bed. He felt someone next to him, and turned to see Mei still laying peacefully with a warm smile, he brushed her hair over her ear before putting his cloths on and leaving. "Time to get my stuff and head out once more." He thought.

He entered his room to see Mavis sitting on the bed with an annoyed expression. "Where were you?"

Ichigo inwardly smacked himself for forgetting about her. "I was...well...you know what. I'm going take a shower and grab my stuff Mavis, we'll speak about this on the road, okay?" He didn't bother to wait for her reply as he locked himself in the bathroom. After taking a shower, and yada, yada, yada, you guys know, hygiene, taking care of yourself, shit like that, nobody really reads that anymore.

Ichigo swung his bag over his shoulder before staring at Mavis who still sat on the bed. "Well, you coming or do I have to carry you?"

 _A few minutes later_

"I shouldn't have said that." Ichigo thought as Mavis was now sitting on his shoulders while swinging her legs back and forth.

The two now reached the exit, but before they could walk past it, Ichigo heard Mei call his name. He turned around to see not only Mei, but Chojuro and Ao as well.

"You thought you were just going to leave without saying bye, did ya?" Ao smiled. He walked up to Ichigo before extending his arm. "It was nice fighting along side you."

Ichigo stood for a second before smiling. He clasped Ao's hand with his own. "You as well, I wouldn't mind doing it again."

Chojuro then made his way to Ichigo as he scratched his head nervously. He honestly didn't know what to say.

Ichigo saw the nervousness in him and couldn't help but chuckle. "You don't have to say anything." He smiled. "But, next time we meet I would like to have a spar with you Chojuro, so you better be prepared."

Chojuro smiled as he nodded his head. "Hai!"

Ichigo directed his attention to Mei, but he notice that when she walked, she did a slight limp that looks like she's trying to conceal as much as possible. "Looks like last night was rougher than I thought." He thought.

Mei smiled as she poked Ichigo's shoulder, slightly shoving him. "Now, when did you ever think you would leave without saying bye to me."

Ichigo chuckled. "Sorry, I just didn't really know what to do, and well..." He scratched his head. "I just didn't want to make things more awkward."

Mei sighed before hugging him, allowing him to hug her back. "When will we see each other again?"

"I don't know, but I'll be looking forward to it." Ichigo replied, they both let go before smiling at one another. Ichigo brought his arm up before he flicked her forehead. "See you around." He spoke before walking away, leaving behind the bonds he's formed while going back to the people that are waiting for his return.

 _Half an hour later_

The two were now rushing down the trail in a hurry.

"Hurry up Ichigo or else they'll leave without us!" Mavis yelled.

"I know, I know!" He replied as he picked up his pace. A few minutes later they reached the coast, Ichigo glanced around before spotting a ship still docked, but it seems like it was about to leave any second.

"There!" He thought before sprinting towards it. As the last person boarded the ship, Ichigo just reached it. However, he was running too fast, so he had to place both of his feet down to force him to stop which also made his sandals squeak on how fast he was running

As they came to a stop, Mavis had a baseball cap on her head with a whistle sticking out of her mouth. She blew on the whistle before speaking. "Safe!"

Ichigo sighed in relief, he boarded the ship that'll take them to Wave Country, and from there, they would make their way to Konoha on foot.

"Last call before departure!" The seemed to be Captain of the ship called out to anyone that hasn't boarded the ship yet. He knew that Wave Country is a dangerous place to set sail to at this time, for it was now under the hands of Gato, a power dealer of many kinds of items you could get. But to hell with it, nothings getting in the way of his business.

Ichigo boarded the ship before making his way up to the Captain. "Say, how long will it be before we arrive at our destination?"

"Oh, a few hours I suppose." The Captain replied. "So you better get comfortable, we're setting sail."

The ship pulled away, heading towards the land called Wave Country. Little did Ichigo know that he was about to meet four familiar faces when he arrives.

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **And Done!**

 **Like it? Hate it? Let me know down in the review sections about your thoughts. Remember, the more reviews I get, the more committed I feel in writing this story. So you better do it, or I'll slowly start to lose interest and abandon it! So leave a review! It does not have to be relevant to the story! :3 (Uh, maybe.)**

 **Yay, I'm back from Texas. Well, I was back a week ago but I had nothing written for the new chapter, so it took me another week before I completed it. Thank you guys for understanding my absence, and I'll try to not let it happen again. TRY!**

 **Anyways, before people complain about how Ichigo was unable to bypass the Sanbi's defenses, just let me say that the Sanbi has some extremely tough armor on him that will be really tough, and I mean tough to break through! Yeah, I know Ichigo is 10 times stronger in Bankai or whatever, but that shell is really something. So flame all you want, but that part is done with, I won't rewrite it.**

 **Anyways, thank you guys so much for reading, it really means a lot to just know that people enjoy what I write, and as always!**

 **I'll see you guys, when I see you guys.**

 **Peace!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everybody! Animelover54321 here and back with a new chapter for the 'Leafs Shinigami.' Sorry for the wait guys, a lot of things happened and I don't want to get too caught up into ranting about my life, so I'm going to say one word that describes it.**

 **...eh.**

 **Anyways, reviews, reviews, some gives good advice, some compliments, suggestions on how to make it better, all in all, it's a pretty fair amount. But what can I say, I love them all, good or bad, it'll just keep me rising in the story lists.**

 **Now, lets get this story progressing shall we?**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 _Coast of Wave Country_

A ship docked in a poor looking harbor before passengers began getting off, two of these people were Ichigo and Mavis who stopped and took in the sight that greeted them.

Ichigo stared at the poor town ahead of them for a few seconds before he began to make his way toward it. Mavis shortly following behind him. "Just look at this place." Ichigo muttered as he took short glances around, passing numerous of homeless men, women, and children. How stray cats and dogs wandered the streets, digging through trash to find even the slightest scrap to consume.

Mavis sadly gazed at the sight that greeted her, never in her life has she knew that their was people living in this condition. "What happened for this to happen?"

"I don't know, but this is none of our concern. As much as it pains me to see people living like this, we can't do anything." Ichigo replied, trying his best to avoid staring into the eyes of a desperate person. As they continued, up ahead he heard someone that seemed to be arguing with a few people. After awhile, he caught sight of a women holding groceries as she argued with about three other men, and by the looks of them, they mean trouble.

"I'm sorry, but I can't accompany you, I have to get back home." The woman said.

"Oh come on, just for a few hours." One of the men grinned as he inched his way closer to her. "They won't notice that you're gone, trust me."

"I appreciate the offer, but I can't." The woman was about push pass the three, but the man grabbed her wrist with a tight grip.

"Well sorry sexy, but you don't have a choice for this one."

"Let me go!" The women shouted as she tugged on her arm, trying to pull herself free from the mans grasp.

"Oi."

The three men all turned around, the only thing they saw was a blur of Orange and then darkness. Ichigo wiped his hands together as he examined the three men laid knocked out when he unleashed hell upon them.

"You think I went a little rough?" He thought to his two companions

 **"Nah." The two replied. "You're good."**

Ichigo inwardly nodded to himself before turning his gaze towards the woman whom he helped, who was recollecting all of the items she dropped on the little event that just happened awhile ago. "Are you alright?" He spoke as he approached her.

The woman nodded as she finished collecting her items, she stood up and smiled at Ichigo, expressing her gratitude for helping her in her time of need. "Thank you for helping me. If you weren't here, who knows where I would be or what they would do to me."

Ichigo nodded, smiling softly as he asked if she needed help carrying her bags, she declined the offer, but Ichigo insisted after what she almost went through. In the end the woman agreed and let him carry a portion of her belongings. They escorted her home, and the woman gave him her name in exchange for his.

"My name's Tsunami. Who are you?"

"The name's Ichigo, Tsunami-san." He replied. "If I may ask, what's wrong with this town? I know that it's poor, but there must be a reason for that, right?"

Tsunami sadly nodded as they kept on walking. "A while back, a man named Gato came and forcefully took over this country. Nobody ever stood up against him besides my...my husband, Kaiza, but when Gato executed him in front of many villagers, no one ever tried to revolt against him again, in fear of meeting the same fate Kaiza had."

Ichigo frowned, this Gato is a huge problem in this village. But it's been awhile since this happened right, so there's no doubt they've sent a C-ranked mission or higher to villages that are willing to help. It'll only be a matter of time until some Shinobi come by to free this country once more. In the end, Ichigo shrugged it off, thinking that it'll be taken care of later.

Tsunami seemed to smile a small bit. "But thankfully, my father has brought home some Shinobi to take care of this threat."

See, what'd I tell you. Ichigo mentally nodded, this village should be in fine hands now.

"They're Leaf Shinobi, and they seem exhausted and worn down. Their leader is really injured so the three children should be waiting until he recovers."

"Well that does not sound good." Ichigo spoke. "Where are they staying at right now?"

Tsunami looked around, making sure that no one was eavesdropping on their conversation. After confirming there was no one. She whispered just loud enough for Ichigo to hear. "They're staying with me." She replied.

"So we're headed over there right now?"

Tsunami nodded, confirming his thoughts.

"Good." Ichigo slightly smiled. "I want to see them."

 _A few minutes later_

They've just reached their destination, and in no time they entered the building.

"Where do you want me to put these?" Ichigo spoke as he held up the bags.

"Just over there by the counter."

He nodded before placing the bag on the counter, but as he did so, he heard the rushing sounds of footsteps closing its distance on him followed by a battle cry. Ichigo ducked under a person that launched himself right foot first at him. A loud crash followed not a second later before the person began groaning in pain.

Ichigo chuckled when he got a good look at the person who tried to hit him, it was easy to tell who it was for the bright clothing he wore. "Nice try Naruto. But you're still way to slow to get me."

Naruto sat on his butt as he rubbed his head. "That hurt." He groaned once more.

"That's what happens when you rush into battle with someone Dobe." A new person spoke. He stood by a door with a pink haired girl standing behind him shaking her head.

"Naruto you idiot, you could've injured an innocent civilian with your careless act."

"He's not a civilian Sakura." The boy spoke. "That's Naruto's older brother, he's a Shinobi as well."

Ichigo smiled as he crossed his arms. "It's nice to see you to Sasuke. You go ahead and begin speaking about me without saying hello, what disrespect."

"Whatever." Sasuke smirked.

Ichigo turned towards Sakura before raising an eyebrow. "Never seen you before? You must be the third member of the party. I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. What's your name?"

"Sakura Haruno sir." Sakura replied, a tone full of respect when she noticed that this person was a higher rank.

Ichigo chuckled. "You don't have to be so uptight, just act as if you would to anyone you're close with."

"A-Are you sure?" She replied, a bit surprised on how his personality is. She expected someone of his rank to be more authoritative and strict.

Ichigo nodded as he turned to face Naruto who just got to his feet.

"Nii-san, what are you doing here?!" He yelled while pointing a finger at him.

"I was just passing by, but then I heard that some team from Konoha was here and in a bit of trouble, so I decided to drop by and see what the fuss is all about." He looked towards Sasuke and Sakure before speaking. "But, guessing that you and Sasuke are here, then I guess Kakashi is as well. Isn't he?"

"Yeah, he is." Sasuke nodded. "He's in the other room resting right now over the injuries he's obtained awhile back."

"Yeah?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "And how long ago was that?"

"Maybe close to a week."

Ichigo nodded, but then he heard a very faint perverted giggle that no one but him heard. His right eye twitched when he noticed who it belonged to. "That bastard is completely fine." He thought before marching down the hall in anger, leaving behind a three confused children.

Mavis smirked as she skipped behind Ichigo. "This is going to be entertaining." She thought.

 _With Kakashi_

Kakashi continued to read his book before giggling again. "You're so naughty nurse-san." He spoke to no one in particular.

He flipped the page before he continued reading, a few seconds later the door that lead to his room exploded, making him fall out of his bed screaming like a girl. He peeked over the bed before seeing Ichigo emerged through the door, not looking too happy.

"Oh Ichigo." He spoke nervously. "So kind of you to drop by, you see I was currently resting until you uh...broke down my door and made me scream." His eyes widened when he noticed that his book was sitting on the bed, he immediately swiped it off, hoping Ichigo didn't see it. A sound of knuckles cracking greeted his ears.

He saw it.

"Wait, wait, wait! I can explain!" He threw his hands in front of him. "You see, this is going to be a new training for the three."

"How is that smut going to help them with their training?" He growled.

"Okay Kakashi." He thought to himself. "Choose the next words you'll say carefully." He inwardly took a deep breath before speaking.

"...Stamina?"

The entire town was filled with a loud screaming of pain and begging for mercy for awhile

 _A few minutes later_

Kakashi sat kneeling on both his knees with bumps and bruises across his face and body.

"You've learned your lesson now?" Ichigo huffed as he glared down at the copy cat.

"...Hai." He shamely muttered.

"Good." Ichigo sighed as he rubbed his head. "You know, there's always the option of getting a girlfriend Kakashi so you could actually experience it. Why waste your time with these books that pervert Jiraiya always publishes when you can have the real thing?"

Kakashi should've felt offended for saying things about his perverted books, but instead he gave Ichigo a curious look. "Why did you ask that question anyway?"

"Just because." He replied, but no sooner than that Kakashi appeared in front of him, all healthy once more as he stared intensely at him. "W-What?" Ichigo slightly backed away, a nervous feeling filling his body.

Kakashi all of a sudden grabbed his shoulders and whispered intensely at him. "How did it feel?"

"What're you talking about?!" Ichigo began to slightly blush in embarrassment.

"You know what I'm talking about?" Kakashi almost yelled as he began to make hand motions of the female body. "How was the curves? The size of their breast? Did you smack 'em!" He got up close to him once more. "Did you!"

"Yea-N-No! What the hell?!" Ichigo smashed his palm on Kakashi's face and shoved him back.

"He hesitated when answering!" Kakashi muttered to himself. "So he has done it."

He tried to imagine the beauty that Ichigo met during his travel, going through all thoughts such as a nurse, a Kunoichi, a princess, a secretary, and countless of others. He giggled at the thought of it.

Ichigo sighed to himself at what he went through. However, he never forgot the main reason he was here in the first place. "Kakashi." He spoke. gaining his attention. "What happened to you?"

Kakashi sighed before speaking. "Well, we were suppose to be doing a C-Ranked mission right now. The job was to protect the bridge builder, Tazuna, from being attacked by bandits. However, on the way we noticed that Tazuna was not only being targeted by bandits, but a Shinobi as well, a really deadly one."

"And who is he?"

"Zabuza Momochi."

Ichigo placed a finger on his chin in thought. "Then this mission should be at most A-Ranked, something far too challenging for those three you have under your wing."

"I know." Kakashi nodded. "Not only that, but Zabuza also seems to have an apprentice with him, a very skilled one no doubt."

"We should leave then." He spoke. "I won't have Naruto and Sasuke be put in harms way, same goes for the girl, Sakura, I think her name was." He crossed his arms. "If something did happen to them, we would never see the light again when those 'two' hears of it."

Kakashi shuddered when he mention those 'two'. "For Kami's sake, I hope it doesn't come to that." He muttered, he relaxed himself before replying to Ichigo. "I have no problem leaving, however, Naruto has his mind set on saving this town already. And I think Sasuke is as well, there's no changing their minds now."

Ichigo hummed. "Well, if that's the case, then you better start training the three for what's about to come."

"Now?" Kakashi whined. "But I'm injur-"

"No you're not you big baby." Ichigo grabbed Kakashi by the arm and yanked him off his bed. "I know you, now get up and start training them."

Kakashi pouted. "You're no fun."

 _A few hours later, in a forest_

Team 7 and Ichigo, along with Mavis who happily and childishly swung her legs from one of the branches high above them, were located in an area deep in the forest.

"Okay." Kakashi spoke, gaining the attention of the three youngsters. "We know that we will no doubt fight a very strong and dangerous opponent, so that is why we are here to continue on your training as Shinobi."

"About time!" Naruto spoke, placing two hands behind his back. "It's been so long since we got any real training done."

"What the Dobe says is true." Sasuke nodded in agreement. "I don't recall the last time we've ever trained."

Kakashi raised his hand to stop anymore comments to be given. "This is the reason why we'll be training right now." He spoke. "Today, you all will be learning how to climb a tree."

"How's that training?" Sakura questioned, a raised eyebrow as she placed her right hand on her hip. "That'll be pretty easy in my perspective."

Kakashi gave an eye smile. "You didn't let me finish. You will be climbing a tree, but without using your hands." He smirked under his mask when he saw the confused and ridiculous expressions the three made. "Here is how you will do it." He made his way up to a tree before placing his foot on the bark, he then proceeded to put his other foot on, making him stand side ways as he began walking up the tree.

"You see, in order to do this. The person must concentrate its Chakra on his or her feet, this will allow them to climb up, defying the laws of gravity." He continued to walk up the tree before reaching a very large branch, he then stood upside down before staring at the his students who continued to watch in awe. "However, there is a problem." He looked at Ichigo, waiting for him to continue what he was saying.

Ichigo caught onto this, and he couldn't help but feel annoyed by this. "What are you looking at me for? They're your students!"

"I'm too lazy." Was his only reply.

Ichigo sighed in annoyance before continuing where Kakashi left off. "You see." He began. "If you 'do' do this. Then you must know the right amount of Chakra you need to use in order to run up the tree without any problem. If you put in too little, then you slip off, if you put too much, the bark will explode, forcing you to jump off the tree. This however, will not only allow you to climb tree's swiftly, but you will be able to control the amount of Chakra you possess more easily, giving you an advantage when you perform Jutsu's and other techniques. It's just like the academy, if you pour in too much or too little Chakra into a jutsu, it will come out very poor, and no doubt a joke."

Naruto nodded as he rubbed his chin. "So all I have to do is make it up one of these trees and that's it right. Too easy."

Kakashi chuckled. "Alright then Naruto, if you say its easy, then I want you to reach one of the high branches. Okay?"

Naruto grinned as he threw a thumbs up at Kakashi. "You got it dattebayo!" Naruto made his way up to a tree before beginning. "Okay, first I need to concentrate Chakra to my feet, and then I proceed." He only took a few steps before the bark burst apart, this actions caught Naruto by surprise, and he couldn't do anything but fall on his head.

"Oww." He groaned as he rubbed his head.

Kakashi and Ichigo were chuckling at this scene, the same goes for Sasuke and much less Sakura. Naruto got up and glared at Sasuke. "Oh yeah, if it's so funny how about you try getting up there!" He pointed.

"Now, now Naruto." Kakashi eased. "Let's not do anything rash, this is the exact reason why no one shouldn't overestimate there ability's. I want all three of you to go ahead and start training, the moment you reach one of these branches. You completed your task." He swiftly threw three Kunai's in front of all three Genin. "Use those Kunai's to mark the highest point you've reached. Everytime you mark it down, try to go a bit higher than the last one. You may begin."

Naruto and Sasuke took a quick glance at each other from the corner of their eyes before dashing towards and up the tree. A few steps they made it before bursting off the bark, they marked their spot before falling.

Ichigo disappeared and appeared on the branch Kakashi was standing under. "Two questions." He spoke. "Why haven't they learned this already, for this should've been completed awhile ago. And second off, how long do you think until they finish?"

"I don't know how long until it's completed, it depends on their will and determination." Kakashi replied, completely ignoring the first question.

"Hey!" A voice called high up in the branches. "This is actually pretty easy!"

Everyone turned their heads up to see Sakura sitting on a branch swinging her legs as she admired the view.

"That's great Sakura-chan!" Naruto praised.

"Hmph." Sasuke huffed before resuming his training.

"I guess Sakura is finished for the day." Kakashi spoke. "I can't believe she finished first before all of you, looks like I underestimated her skills. I mean seriously, I guess Sakura has a better chance on becoming Hokage, and she shows better chakra control than the legendary Uchiha clan. I guess they were just all talk." He only said this to make the two who were still at it to get frustrated and work even harder, and it seems like it kind of worked. Sakura only scratched her head embarrassingly at the praise she received.

"Sakura, since you're done. How about you go help Tazuna in anyway he needs until your two teammates are finished."

"Eh?" She blinked a few times. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Don't worry." Kakashi replied, watching his student leave the area to go find Tazuna.

Ichigo felt a presence nearby, but it didn't seem threatening to him. From the corner of his eye, he saw a young boy, probably no older than 8 years of age spying on the team. "Who's the kid?" He muttered to Kakashi.

"That's Tsunami's son, Inari." He replied, not bothering to look at Ichigo or the boy. "He's rather cold to our presence here. So don't push him, he might have experienced something in the past that made him this way."

Ichigo hummed in understanding. He saw the boy turn around before leaving, probably going back to where he came from. "Imma go talk to him." He spoke, not bothering to wait for a reply, he vanish into thin air.

Inari huffed as he turned away from Team 7's so called, 'training'. "What a waste of time." He muttered. "They'll just die like the rest of them." As he spoke that, an image of his step-father Kaiza flashed through his head for just a second. He clenched his fist in anger as he thought about what happened.

Ichigo stepped out from behind one of the trees. "What makes you say that we'll die." He spoke, startling the young boy. He leaned on the tree with his left shoulder as he waited for a reply.

"Who are you?" He spoke. "I never seen you around until now."

"I just came recently, think of me as back up for the team."

"Hmph." Inari scoffed. "Then you'll die like the rest of them." He spoke before walking away.

Ichigo stood for a few seconds before sighing. "Wow, Kakashi wasn't kidding when he said the kids cold." He thought before regrouping back with the cyclops, watching the remaining two train until nightfall, where their legs finally gave out and couldn't train for another minute.

 _A few hours later_

Team 7 sat in the dining room table, having their fill from their long day of training, it was a time to relax...well, not when two rivals are wolfing down mouthfuls of food a second as they glared at one another.

"Another round please!" The two spoke. A few seconds more passed until the two felt something coming up from their stomach, they turned around and vomited all over the floor.

Sakura's eye twitched at the scene she witnessed. "Don't eat like that if you're going to puke!" She yelled in annoyance and disgust.

"I wont lose." Sasuke muttered.

"I wont lose either." Naruto grinned. "It'll help me get stronger."

Kakashi nodded. "It will get you stronger, but puking won't."

Ichigo held his palm over his mouth as he looked away. "Uhh, you two are going to make me puke." He groaned, ignoring the giggles from Mavis who looked at this scene with great interest.

A few minutes later, after the disgusting competition ended. Sakura looked at a torn picture hanging from one of the walls. "It looks like someone on this picture was torn off." She spoke. "Who is this person?"

"That - was my husband." Tsunami hesitantly spoke.

Tazuna nodded as he looked down. "He was a hero in this land."

At this point, Inari took this time to leave the dining room before running out the door.

"Inari!" Tsunami called out as she chased after her son. She glanced back to glare at her father. "I told you never to say that in front of him, you know this!" She then proceeded to go after her son.

"There must be a story behind that type of behavior we witnessed." Ichigo spoke as he leaned on his chair.

Tazuna nodded before proceeding to tell the story behind this man. How he saved Inari from drowning, and how the two were very close with each other, getting along with pretty much everything they did. Up until his execution from a man named Gato who now had the entire wave country fearing him.

"He was a hero." Tazuna continued. "A hero that has perished one day, and that day changed Inari, for he stopped believing that something good will come, that we will all meet the same fate."

Naruto had his eyes closed as he heard this story be told, he opened his eyes before standing up. As he took one step to the door, he fell to the floor, his body still aching from the training they received.

"Naruto, you should rest." Kakashi spoke. "You can't move anymore."

"I'll prove him wrong." He groaned as he struggled to push himself back on his feet. He turned back, a confident smirk on his face. "I'll prove to him that there are still hero's in this world." He got back to his feet before leaving the building.

"Naruto!" Sakura called out as she made an attempt to go after him. "Wait-"

Ichigo grabbed Sakura's arm, halting her movements. "Don't." He spoke. "Let him be, I'll check on him first thing in the morning."

Sakura looked at Kakashi, hesitant about not going after her teammate, she received a nod from her sensei telling her to leave him be. She sighed before nodding. "Alright."

 _Next morning, 8:00 AM_

Ichigo yawned as his eyes slowly opened, taking in the morning sun that has yet to expose itself in the sky. He got up on a sitting position for a few seconds, waiting for the sleepiness fade a bit more before standing on his two feet. He quietly made his way through the building, knowing that everyone was still sleeping. As he left the building, he was greeted by Mavis who sat patiently outside.

"Aren't you suppose to be asleep." Ichigo spoke, slightly surprise at her presence.

"I don't have to sleep, I'm dead remember. I mean, I could sleep if I want to, but I don't wanna." She replied.

"Fair enough." He nodded, "So, do you know where Naruto went. I need to get the brat back here before breakfast, or else he'll start the day with an empty stomach."

"I saw him a few minutes down that direction." She pointed. "He looks exhausted."

"Alright thanks." He smiled before taking off in the direction she pointed.

After a few minutes of walking, he began to here voices speak back to one another, one of them he knew was Naruto. He stopped before he could've made himself known to the two, eavesdropping on their conversation.

"I'm going become Hokage!" Naruto pronounced confidently. "The strongest Hokage their ever was!"

Ichigo inwardly chuckled to himself, wondering how many times he heard him say those words.

 **"Goddamn!" The hollow groaned. "I know he's a kid and all, but will he ever shut up about becoming Hokage?!"**

"Let kids dream." Zangestu replied. "Let them become motivated enough to achieve their goal in life, so it wont wither out and die when they grow older."

Ichigo nodded, agreeing to his partners thoughts. Even though it can get annoying at times, it will be better if the young knew what they wanted to be when they grow up. He concentrated his attention back towards Naruto and the other person that his 'little brother' was speaking to.

"You want to get stronger huh?" The other person spoke, the person paused for a few seconds before speaking. "You know, I always believed that a person grows truly strong when they have a person they wish to protect."

"They do?" Naruto blinked a few times.

"Yes, is their anyone you want to protect? Friends or family?"

Naruto smiled brightly as he leaned back, placing his hands behind his head. "Yeah I do, a lot of people actually. I want to protect all of my friends, including Kaa-chan, Jiji, and Nii-san as well.

Ichigo smiled as he heard this. "'A person gets truly strong when they have someone they wish to protect huh?' I like that." He stepped out, making his presence known. "A great way to put it." He spoke, slightly startling the two.

"Nii-san?!" Naruto spoke. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm here to take you back for breakfast, you don't want to start the day with an empty stomach do ya?"

As if on cue, Narutos stomach growled in hunger. He blushed in embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his head.

Ichigo smirked before wrapping an arm around Naruto's neck. "So, whose the girl? A secret girlfriend or something?" He teased.

"N-No, it's nothing like that?!" He stuttered.

The girl watched the older person tease what she most likely thinks is his younger brother. She smiled as she giggled a bit, enjoying the amusing scene in front of her. She stood to her feet before speaking. "It was nice knowing you Naruto, but I have to leave now. Goodbye!" She waved before retreating back in the forest.

Naruto smiled as he waved back as well. "Bye!" He smiled.

The girl stopped before looking back, still smiling. "By the way, I'm a boy." With that, she left the area, leaving two shocked males.

"...Is she really."

"Don't trust another person with long hair unless you actually 'know', its a female." Was Ichigo's only reply.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 **And Done**

 **Now, before I continue with the closure of this chapter, I would like to apologize for my long absence, as some of you, well, perhaps all of you already know. Finals are almost upon us, others are already beginning them. And I was taking this time to prepare myself for what's coming. I could've made this chapter longer, but I am sure I will be extremely busy until testing is over which will begin in about a week or 2, so that means it would take a possible 3 or 4 weeks longer to deliver another chapter. Yeah, I know, it sucks and I hope you guys can understand this, the next chapter I make will have at least a total number of 10,000 words as a make up for the time I've left you all.**

 **Once again, I apologize, Thank you guys so much for your continued support, and as always!**

 **I'll see you guys, when I see you guys.**

 **Peace!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everybody! Animelover54321 back with a new chapter for the 'Leaf's Shinigami'! I am prou-**

 ***Gets cut off by commotion getting louder outside a door***

 **What the hell is going on out there?**

 ***Door breaks down with a mob of angry fans throwing tomatoes at me***

 **"It's been months since you last updated! And now you decide to update now?! You fucking lazy piece of shit!"**

 **Oh, no**

 ***Sprints the other direction and continue to run back and forth across the screen as mob chases me***

 **Now as I-**

 **Was trying to say-**

 **You know what-**

 **Just enjoy the story!**

 ***Shovel slams into my face***

 **"BITCH!"**

 **Cut the tape, CUT THE TA-**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The door leading into Tsunami's home opened, and in walked Ichigo and Naruto. Both of them not saying a single word for they are still too shocked on the revealed man under the supposed female looking person.

Kakashi noticed the two walked in and lifted an arm to greet them. "Yo! ...eh?" He hummed when he realized that the two seem to be in a bit of a... depressing state of mind. "What's wrong?"

Ichigo looked at Kakashi with dead eyes. "Kakashi, have you ever thought that everything you knew was a lie?"

Kakashi placed a finger under his chin in thought. "A few times in my life, why do you ask?"

"Women are men, men are women." Naruto chanted over and over softly.

"Stay away, from the cuteness." Was Ichigo's only reply as he and Naruto entered the kitchen, leaving an even more confused Kakashi

"Just what have they ran into recently?" He mumbled.

 _A few hours later_

Somewhere back in the forest, Team 7 along with Ichigo stood at the place they last trained at.

"Alright you little shits!" Kakashi roared in an authoritative tone.

"Imma tell Kushina and Mikoto you spoke in such inappropriate language in front of their children." Ichigo spoke, having a grin of victory on his face.

Kakashi stayed still for a second before slowly turning his head towards the orange haired shinigami. "Name your price."

 _A few minutes later._

"Alright you beautiful children!" Kakashi spoke wearing pink princesses dress. He did his best to stand as tall, proud, and as manly as he was before. But it just fueled everyone's entertainment after seeing how hard he's trying to act, 'cool'.

Ichigo held his arm over his mouth as he tried his hardest not to laugh at his friends hilarious outfit. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were trying their best as well. They couldn't even pay attention to what he was trying to say to them since they couldn't take him seriously in that outfit.

"And that's pretty much it." Kakashi finished.

"Y-You got it Sensei!" Naruto held himself back strong, even if his face was showing literally every sign that he was about to lose it.

Sasuke who was also having the same expression, tried to mutter under his breath but failed. "F-Fucking faggot."

That broke the final walls as everyone fell on their backs and began rolling over, dying from the laughter they were emitting.

"I hate all of you." Kakashi sighed.

 _A few hours of intense training later_

It was now dawn, everyone but the two rivals headed back to Tsunami's home after they decided they should go back. However, since Sasuke and Naruto refused to give up after seeing that they were so close to finishing their training, also because they refused to lose to each other. They soon finished it a tie while their bodys ached and their lungs trying to catch up on taking in the necessary oxygen they couldn't gather in time.

"We should - go back." Sasuke spoke in between breaths.

"Yeah - it's getting - quite dark out here." Naruto huffed.

The two descended from the trees they were on, landing on the ground safely on both feet. They tried to walk, but they couldn't support themselves standing on their own two feet after all the energy they used up. They noticed that the other was also having trouble on the same thing. To their dismay, they knew the only way they would be getting out of here was helping the other stand. How shitty their day ended today.

After a few minutes of limping back towards Tsunami's place, they managed to arrive in time for supper to begin.

Everyone sat around the dining table knowing that dinner will be ready shortly. The door opened with Naruto and Sasuke coming in.

"Yo!" Naruto smiled, as he and Sasuke both had their arms wrapped around the others back in order to stay up. "Are we late?"

"Just in time." Kakashi smiled under his mask. "I was about to search for you two."

The two remaining people took their seats and waited for dinner to be ready.

"Ugh, that was intense training." Naruto groaned as his head smacked the table over how exhausted he currently was. "My body hurts just by moving. Even if it's a little."

"You two seem as if you worked your butts off." Ichigo softly smiled.

"Don't remind me of it." Naruto replied. "I'm just glad it's over now, the sooner we complete this mission the sooner I can go home to Kaa-chan."

Inari who was as cold as ever was looking down in anger and annoyance. "Why do you do this?" He spoke.

Almost everyone turned to him, since he rarely spoke to either one of them they were intrigued to know what he wanted to say.

"Why do I do what kid?" Naruto spoke before laying his head down once more.

"All of this!" He nearly shouted. "You train, and train, and train. But it doesn't matter how much you do so! You'll end up dying like the rest! It's completely useless to do so! So why?!"

"Because it's the right thing to do." Naruto calmly replied with his eyes closed.

"So what? Even if it is! You won't make a difference! Neither of you!" He looked at everyone before landing his eyes at Ichigo. He had his chin resting on his palm as he stared at him with unaffected eyes. How he hated looking at those eyes. "And you!" He pointed. "You think you can come out of nowhere and save the day! To be everyone's hero they always needed?"

"I don't want to be a hero. It takes too much responsibility. Even if you do have it, people expect too much out of you. I don't know what you're trying to tell me. If I bother you, then I apologize for that. So whatever it is you want to say, then say it."

Inari growled as he clenched his fist. "I just hate all of you people who have it easy in life! And then you come to other places acting like you know how they feel to lose someone they love."

"Inari." Tsunami spoke.

"No." Ichigo stopped her. "It's fine." He looked at Inari. "Look, I'm sorry to say this, but what you're saying is completely false. I've been through a lot. And I can say the same for everyone who came here to help you. I lost people that I don't even know if they're either alive or dead dammit!" His voice suddenly began to slowly get more and more emotional. "All because of a man who wanted to control the world, he took away everything from me and now I don't know if I will ever see them again! Not my sisters, not my dad, not my friends! No one!" He grabbed the edge of the table, clenching it as hard as he could without breaking the wood. "You're luckier than most of us kid. I'm jealous that you still have your mother with you. So don't you dare say that we don't know how it feels, because I guarantee that it's more than what you could ever feel." He closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. "My apologies. But I have lost my appetite, so I'll be taking an early night." He stood up and left the dining room leaving the rest to themselves.

Ichigo entered his guest room before proceeding to sit on the bed. A few seconds later Mavis appeared through the floor.

"You alright Ichigo?" She spoke in concern after seeing him in such a state.

"Yeah. I just, have a lot on my mind right now." He sniffed.

Mavis nodded, she sat next to the Orange Haired Shinigami before she leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "If you ever wish to speak about it. I'm always here okay?" She spoke in the most comforting, gentle tone she could utterly present.

"Thank you Mavis." He softly replied as his thoughts traveled between his original and current family. So much mixed emotions flowed between the two, he knows he's acting like a baby for still feeling like shit from the thought of his original family. But the bonds with them are just too hard to forget. So he closed his eyes and let sleep try to take away this pain he was feeling.

By the time Ichigo woke up, he wondered how long he slept since the sun was now high up in the air. He turned to his right to see that the clock the family had next to the bed said it was currently 2:54 P.M, just six minutes to three. He sat up and stretched his arms.

"I missed breakfast." He mumbled in a bit of disappointment since he didn't eat anything last night. He noticed that Mavis was gone, probably off to explore this area as they're here. He was about to fall back in his bed for a few more minutes, but the sound of Tsunami screaming downstairs caused him to jump out of bed, grab Zangetsu and proceeded to quickly run down to see what was going on.

When he got down, he saw Tsunami was being carried off by two bandit, most likely from Gato's gang with Inari who tried to protect her mother but was clearly outmatched. Reacting quickly, he flashed in front of the person that held Tsunami and punched his jaw, breaking a few teeth and forcing Tsunami out of his grasp. He then turned around to face the other bandit who was completely surprised on what happened. Ichigo stomped on the bandits foot, crushing it before quickly grabbing him by his throat and thrust him to the ground.

"Are you alright." Ichigo asked Tsunami as he kept his eyes on the person he had pinned.

"Y-Yeah. Thank you." Tsunami replied. She noticed the person Ichigo attacked first stood up with his sword over his head ready to cut his head off. "Ichigo! Watch out!" She shouted.

Just as she finished, a pan smashed against his head knocking him out cold. When he fell, behind him stood Inari teary eye'd as he held the frying pan with a tight grip.

"Good job kid." Ichigo complimented before he knocked out the bandit he had pinned. "You did good there."

Tsunami got up and rushed over to her son before pulling him in for a hug.

"I-I just kicked his ass." Inari spoke in a surprised tone which caused Ichigo to chuckle softly and Tsunami to smile.

"You sure did kid." Ichigo laughed. After everyone's emotions began to die down, Ichigo took the moment to speak. "Tsunami, do you know or have any idea of why those two came after you?"

Tsunami shook her head, the horrific and unexpected break in that was almost a success was something she didn't expect. "No, I do not. But if I could guess, it's probably Gato trying to kidnap me and use me to stop my father from building the bridge."

Ichigo hummed completely seeing why it would be such a perfect strategy to use. "Well, good thing I came while I did."

Not a second later, Naruto made his presence known to the three out of breath.

"Naruto?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm too late." Naruto breathed. "I just saw a trail with a bunch of slices leading towards Tsunami-sans house. So I got worried, but looks like you took care of it."

"Of course I did." He crossed his arms as he smirked. "Besides, I wouldn't let such a weakling as yourself fight these two, you'd be killed in less than a minute."

Naruto's eye twitched at that. "Eh! I could totally beat those two!" He pointed at the two unconscious bandits.

"How can you beat them if you can't touch me then?"

"Because you have some monstrous experience up your sleeves!"

 **"He does have a point king."** The hollow, who was quiet up till now spoke.

"Can't you see I'm teasing him?"

 **"...I see no such thing."**

Naruto pointed at Ichigo. "Watch, one day I'll beat you! And then we'll see who the weakling is!"

 **"Allow me to point out that I can not wait for that day to come."** The Hollow smiled proudly as he imagined Naruto standing over a beaten and unconscious Ichigo.

"Pfft, I'll make sure you're fighting him first then before he gets to me." Ichigo thought.

 **"I can hear that!"**

 **"No one cares about your opinion."** Zangetsu spoke in a normal tone, but inside he was smiling as he and Ichigo both mentally gave each other a high five.

 **"No one loves me."** The paled Ichigo sobbed in a corner.

Back to the point, Ichigo snapped out of his little talk with his longest known companions before looking at Naruto. "Haha, I can't wait to see how much you've grown by then." He ruffled the blondes hair, causing him to smile at such support he was receiving. "Say, you should probably go help your team guard Tazuna at the bridge. After what happened here, Gato might pull something off over there as well."

Naruto nodded before rushing to the bridge. "See you later Nii-san!" He waved as he disappeared in the trees.

"Is he going to be okay?" Tsunami questioned when Naruto left.

"They will, I trust them." Ichigo replied before closing his eyes, he sighed before turning around. "Alright, lets get you two inside. I'll help clean up the mess the two made while protecting you from anyone else they try to send at you."

Tsunami nodded as she stood up, took Inari by the hand and walked inside to clean up what was left behind from the short battle.

 _An hour later_

 **(AN: I'm sure that I don't have to write most of the fighting done on the bridge since it's all basically canon. I have decided that the fight on the bridge shall be skipped because I have no use to write it since it's all basically Canon with very small changes if I type it out.)**

The battle on the bridge was a really memorable moment for everyone who participated in the event. The waves of emotions crashing upon you, be it rage, sadness, joy, or whatever you can feel going through you has finally passed. Ichigo stood next to Sakura, allowing his protective sense over the young Genin settle down slowly. He took the time to think on what brought him over here in the first place.

The demonic power that he felt when he was assisting Tsunami and Inari on the wreckage that occurred almost an hour after the bandits were dealt with. It felt so evil, so unbelievably bothering that it didn't sit too well with him after feeling it was close by. That's when he noticed that the being releasing such dark power was the demon sealed inside Naruto, the Kyuubi. He immediately ran out the door and sped towards the bridge in less than a minute without saying anything to the two. When he arrived, he made it just in time to see Naruto, the person he saw grow up in a strong rage that changed his being a little bit into a beast. Dark, Crimson red eyes with slits, thickened whiskers, and sharper, longer nails.

No sooner than that, he saw Naruto launch himself at an enemy ahead of him. Ichigo would've let Naruto do his thing, since this person was no ally by the looks of it. But he was not allowing his little brother to kill someone in this state of mind. Who knew what would happen to him after killing the Shinobi like this. So he took action and flashed in between Naruto and his intended target to kill. He caught the blondes fist but it made his feet drag back a little as he did so. As he stared into the boys rage and bloodlust filled eyes, he managed to bring him back while yelling at him to snap out of this state

Ichigo wondered how he got like this in the first place, but the sight of an unconscious, and almost killed Sasuke connected the dots immediately. At first, he thought Sasuke was dead, which did not sit well with him at all. But when Zangetsu informed him that he was doing just fine, he relaxed himself a bit. No later than that, he picked up Sasuke and went over to Sakura who was guarding Tazuna before setting him down. The battle quickly unfolded between Zabuza and Kakashi when he saw the Gray haired ninja about to end Zabuza's life. But Haku appeared in front of the defenseless Zabuza and took the killing blow for him.

A few minutes after talking back and fourth between Naruto and Zabuza about Haku, Gato made his appearance with a huge group of bandits which ticked off everyone. Zabuza told Naruto to toss him a Kunai, which he did so without questioning it. He caught it with his mouth before charging ahead without hesitation to kill his target. After ending Gatos life, Zabuza was helped by Kakashi to lie next the Haku's corpse, where he died in peace with the only person left he saw as family to him. A minute later Inari and his mother arrived with the rest of the towns people in arms to chase off the remaining bandits that was planning to raid them even after Gato died.

So now, here they were. The villagers cheering in victory as they finally regained the freedom they wished of having for so long. Ichigo heard coughing coming from behind him, he looked back to see Sasuke had just awoken from his unconscious state.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura spoke in relief as she knelt beside him.

"Easy there." Ichigo said as he made his way to the young Uchiha. "I got you." He helped him get to his feet since they were no doubt about to head back to Tsunami's place soon.

"Ichigo?" Sasuke spoke in confusion. "Why are you here?" His eyes snapped open. "The enemy! Naruto! Where are they?!"

"It's fine Sasuke. The fights over, we won. Naruto is safe." Ichigo searched for the blond before spotting him next to Kakashi. "Hey Naruto!" He called, gaining his attention. "Guess who woke up!"

Naruto turned around in curiosity before his eyes landed on the Uchiha. His eyes widened before he let a bright smile envelope his face.

Sasuke looked the other way, but he did raise his hand acknowledging Naruto's presence.

* * *

As Team 7 and Ichigo settled everything down, a certain Hollow was having his own thoughts.

 **"That demonic power!"** The hollow grinned evilly. **"I must have it work for me, if not become a part of me!"**

Zangetsu stood next to the paled Ichigo. **"You know, I can just tell Ichigo right now about your plans and it'll be ruined."**

The hollow shrugged. **"Eh, it's not like it would work anyways. Besides..."** He laid on his back while floating in the air. **"I kinda like King doing everything, no effort put on my end of the table besides lending him my power when needed."**

Zangetsu continued to eye the Hollow with a blank expression.

 **"...What?"**

 **"Nothing, I just wanna stare."** He replied neutrally. Just then, Zangetsu closed his eyes feeling that he and the Hollow weren't alone at the moment. " **Whoever is out there, I know you're here. Just come out."** Zangetsu declared.

The Hollow raised an eyebrow, intrigued to welcome a new guest to the group.

"Well this is weird, Ichigo having ghostly spirits in his head is something I did not expect." A feminine voice spoke as she appeared in front of the two.

The two immediately knew who this girl was.

 **"You're that flat-chested kid following Ichigo around for the past few years ain't ya?"** The hollow questioned.

The girl itched to punch this person similar to Ichigo right in the prized area. "I'm not a kid! I have name you know! I suggest you use it!"

 **"Don't mind him"** Zangetsu spoke. **"He's just low-life cunt at times."**

 **"Hey!" T** he hollow replied, slightly offended. **"...I'm a super low-life cunt!"**

 **"Anyways."** Zangetsu continued. **"I'm curious on how you managed to get in here, Mavis."**

Mavis smiled. "Oh, let me explain."

* * *

A few days passed since the incident on the bridge, Tazuna has finally managed to complete the bridge along side the builders that once left out of fear for being killed. And since then, everyone was now packed and ready to return to Konoha.

Tazuna, Tsunami, Inari and the rest of Wave Country's villagers came to see their hero's depart back home.

"Well, it looks like you're off now." Tazuna happily, yet sadly spoke.

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, we've been here far too long. If we stay any longer the village would send someone to check up on us, and most likely bring us back by then."

"Such a shame, and here I was thinking we could throw a farewell party before all of you leave." Tazuna chuckled.

"We appreciate the offer, but it's best we leave now." Ichigo informed before smiling. "Besides, why not have that party in memory of us. We may not be there, but it's best to let loose after such a long, painful struggle."

Tazuna laughed. "I'll make sure that happens."

Ichigo nodded before looking at Naruto who was saying his farewells to Inari, some words must have made both of them tear up which further made his smile grow.

"I'm not going to miss that bastard." Naruto emotionally muttered.

And so, the five of them proceeded to walk across the bridge that will lead them away from Wave and back into the Land of Fire.

"Hey, Jii-chan!" Inari spoke to Tazuna. "What should we name this bridge?"

Tazuna put hand on his chin in thought. "Hmmm, how about the Great Naruto bridge?"

Inari smiled brightly as he nodded. "I like it!"

Naruto was excitingly walking with Sasuke on his left and Ichigo on his right. He wouldn't stop babbling on returning home and having some of her mothers ramen, or get some ramen from Ichiraku's as well. They were both heaven to him either way.

"Naruto, you're not going to grow tall if you continue to eat like that you know." Ichigo spoke. "You'll be so small if you do. I mean look at you, you are the smallest one here by quite a bit."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Ichigo. "Like I care what you think Nii-san!"

"You'll care one day." He scoffed.

"Nope! Besides, what are you going to do about it."

Ichigo's eye twitched at Naruto's cockiness. He bonked him on the head which caused him to yelp in pain. "You were saying?"

"Itai! That hurt Nii-san!"

"Next time you should listen to me."

Team 7 only chuckled at the interactions between the two. But what they never knew was that the moment Ichigo bonked the Jinchuurikis head, it was the given opportunity for a certain individual to do some exploring in someone else's head before he was sucked back to where he came from.

* * *

A certain hollow was screaming when he entered the kids head. He couldn't touch the ground or float at all, so all he could do was fall. The next thing he knew he slammed onto the floor that was seemed to have an appearance of a sewer system.

 **"Ugh! Yuck!"** The hollow grimaced. **"Why the hell am I in a sewer?"** His eye twitched as he thought of reasons why he could be here. **"King! Is this your doing! I swear if it was you I'll shove my fist so far up in your ass when I fight for control over you again!"**

As he was about to continue his rage filled rant. He heard a rather, dark, demonic voice echo throughout the sewers.

The hollow raised an eyebrow at the sound. **"Who's there?"**

The voice echoed once more, this time he could make out what it was saying.

 **"Come here."**

The hollow, seeing no other option, began to head the way the sound was coming from. **"Now, before you try anything. I must warn you, that I have been studying Kakashi's 'one thousand years of death' jutsu. So don't try anything."** He lifted two fingers, showing that he meant business.

The hollow continued for about a minute longer before approaching a rather large gate, which seemed to be held by a seal of some sorts.

 **"Come closer."** It spoke once more.

The hollow approached until he could literally touch the gate. As soon as he did so, a giant paw came swinging down on him. He reacted by holding his arm up and halted the paw from squashing him.

 **"You know. That was really mean."** He frowned. No sooner, he saw a pair of huge red eyes open from within the cage.

 **"You're not my jailer. Nor are you human as well."** The beast sat on it's behind, exposing it in all its glory.

The hollow stood silent as he eye'd the notorious demon that he could only see as the Kyuubi no Kitsune. **"Foxy!"** He pointed his finger at the beast acting like a child.

 **"Answer me you pathetic trash!"**

The hollow snapped out of his thoughts before crossing his arms. **"Hey! That was rude you know!"**

 **"Not like you're any better."** His inner self told him.

 **"Shut up."**

The Kyuubi ignored the Hollows weak insult as it continued to pressure him for answers. **"Enough of your games! Who, or what are you? And why are you here!"** The Kyuubi roared.

The Hollow sighed before smirking. **"Yo! I don't really have a name to be honest. But, as for what I am. Well, get comfortable furry, because we're going to be here a long time before I have to go back to 'my' jailer."**

* * *

The five of them were now approaching the entrance of Konoha, and must Ichigo say he was glad to be back. After being gone for half a year, followed by a week more after assisting Kakashi in wave. He was sure feeling alive to be back in familiar territory.

"Aaaah!" Naruto yawned stretching his arms. "It's great that we're baaaack!" He yelled happily.

Sakura nodded, agreeing with Naruto and his declaration. It was really rough for her the past two or three weeks, and must she say she may have took a bit more than she could chew. After that wave incident thought, she knew she had to do something she's been neglecting for a long time. It was time for her to train. And when she means training, she means actual training.

Kakashi smiled under his mask before facing his students. "Alright, mission complete. I want all of you to go home and get a nice two days of rest. You all earned it. I'll go ahead and report on the mission we were sent on."

Sakura smiled as she went on her way home to do as she was told. "I'll see you guys around!" Sakura smiled as she waved, leaving the group of males to themselves.

Naruto smiled as he as well started to go home shortly followed by Sasuke. "Alright, I'm going to tell Kaa-chan all about the amazing mission we had, but I also can't wait to eat some of her ramen again! I miss her cooking. " Naruto's mouth watered as he thought of her ramen.

Sasuke groaned, hoping that her mom wouldn't let such a meal be presented to him after all of this. Please let her mother stop Kushina from going overboard.

When Kakashi heard this, he couldn't help but feel that something wasn't correct. And that the outcome would leave him on deaths door faster than he could blink. It soon dawned upon him what Naruto was going to d.o "Wait, Naruto! Don't tell Kushina about... the... he's gone." He nervously spoke as he slowly began to panic.

"Oooooooh! You're sooo dead!" Ichigo laughed at Kakashi for the apparent doom that was now waiting for him.

Kakashi slowly turned his head to Ichigo with narrowed eyes. "You're in just as much danger as I am Ichigo! Naruto will mention that you arrived, and she would then beat you for letting him encounter such a dangerous enemy when you could do it yourself."

"...shit, you're right." He normally replied.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before dashing down the streets in such speed in order to get to the Hokage's office before 'they' found them. Just about a minute into sprinting, their worst nightmares begun when they heard to familiar, angry yells echo across the village.

"Ichigo! Kakashi!"

The two picked up their pace and began moving their legs at such inhuman speed, that their legs were literally blurry when they ran by leaving a massive dust trail behind them.

"I don't wanna die!" Kakashi cried, tears spilling out of his eyes.

They never made it to the Hokage's office.

* * *

"And that's the report on the mission Hokage-sama!" Kakashi informed as he and Ichigo were in crutches with countless of bandages covering their bodies.

Hiruzen nodded. "Okay... but it doesn't explain the state you two are in right now. So, what happened that got you all bruised and injured."

Ichigo muttered one word that summed up everything. "Women."

"Fair enough." The Hokage shuddered. "If that's all you that need to be said, then you may leave now."

Ichigo and Kakashi bowed, the injuries on their bodies suddenly disappeared. Ichigo turned and left the room to return home, he just hopes Kushina won't tackle him with a hug when he opens the door.

Kakashi stayed put and waited until Ichigo closed the door behind him, as soon as he heard the door shut behind him leaving him alone with the Hokage, he decided to speak.

"Hokage-Sama, I must speak to you about something." He spoke seriously.

The Hokage leaned forward with his hand on his desk. "Proceed."

* * *

Ichigo stood in front of a door that lead into a place he hasn't been in so long. He wondered how it's been since he left, if anything has changed since then. He sighed, he knew he couldn't stay here forever. And that he'll eventually have to move out and get a house or an apartment himself. But, seeing that the place Kushina and Mikoto currently lived, even if it was a decent sized place. It was still small with all five of them together, so at times it got a little cramped. Plus with Naruto and Sasuke growing rather big now entering their teenager years. Oh yeah, this place was not going to be comfortable to live in about two years in the future.

Ichigo thought to himself for a second, he could move out in about two weeks. He had more than enough money to buy someplace for himself. plus some decent furniture would only take so much out of him anyways. He'd still have way more to spare over how much these missions paid him. But if he did move out, it would still leave Kushina, Mikoto, Sasuke, and Naruto in slightly less cramped house. Naruto and Sasuke may have to share a room since they're now close to being a man, so Sasuke couldn't sleep in the same room as her mother, but even then it can be weird to have your personal items and someone else's mixed together in one room. After awhile longer of thinking, he smiled to himself after thinking of the perfect solution where everyone can be happy and have enough of their own personal space from one another. Now all he had to do was find a nice spot to put it.

He sighed as he grasp the door handle and entered the house. "I'm back!" Ichigo called out, he soon heard footsteps rushing towards him at a really fast rate.

"Ichigooo!" Kushina yelled as she tackled him to the ground before proceeding to smother her face into his chest.

Ichigo groaned a tiny bit in annoyance. "It's good to see you to Kushina." He smiled as he rubbed her smooth, silky red hair. "But, er. Can you please... let go of me. Your strength is sort of... cutting of my air source."

Kushina released her grasp from the Shinigami and quickly stood up, blushing in embarrassment on how bold she was to him. "I-I'm sorry! I sort of lost myself when you came back."

Ichigo lightly chuckled as he stood up on his two feet. "It's okay." He smiled. "Next time, try to restrain yourself though. For my health that is."

Kushina slowly nodded, still blushing on her actions.

Mikoto soon made her appearance after the small, embarrassing moment Kushina had. "Ichigo!" Mikoto smiled in a more relaxing, and calm tone. Sure she was really excited and happy that he's back home and in one piece, but unlike Kushina, she knew when to restrain herself. "I'm so glad to see you back safe from your mission."

Ichigo nodded at Mikoto, acknowledging her presence and thanking her for her concern for him.

"How was it by the way?" The Uchiha mother questioned, eager to know about his adventure in Mizu no Kuni.

"It was the most challenging mission I had so far, I can say that for sure." He answered.

"Why's that?" Kushina asked, now as interested as her friend.

"Well." He Ichigo scratched the back of his head in thought. "Turns out, I was aiding the rebellion to take down the Mizukage and his army from a tyranny he's been on for the past few years."

"I've heard of that." Mikoto sadly replied. "It's sad, I heard the Mizukage was a very nice person, but then all of a sudden he changed and began treating people with such strict rules. Even going so far and isolating clans with bloodlines away from the others."

"Yeah." He nodded. "Thankfully, the fight has come to an end. The Mizukage's tyranny is now over."

"That's great news." Kushina smiled at the information Ichigo gave him, relieved that Mizu's nightmares are starting to fade away. "I heard that the Mizukage contained one of the tailed beast inside him. It must've been a tough battle."

"It was." He nodded, remembering the fight with Yagura and the Sanbi. "I must say, I nearly died fighting him."

"Well, I'm glad you're alright." Mikoto sighed. "The tailed beasts are dangerous to fight alone, who was with you when you fought it by the way?"

"I actually didn't receive any assistance."

"...Wait, what?!" The two mothers shouted.

Ichigo nervously chuckled as he began sweating a bit from the intense stares the two were giving him. "Y-Yeah. I actually fought him by myself. I mean, I did get a bit of assistance from the Rebels leader, Mei, but it wasn't much. So I pretty much did all the damage on him."

The two continued to stare at him before they looked up and down his figure a few times, trying to find at least some critical injury of some sorts on his body.

"You're kidding right?" Mikoto spoke in slight awe.

Ichigo sighed. "Is it really that shocking that I solo'd a tailed beast?"

"Well, kind of!" Kushina spoke. "I mean, if you did there's so many conditions I would of expected of you to be in. A severe lack of Chakra that could possibly put you in a coma, maybe losing an arm or a leg, or you could be dead! You know how hard it is to do something like that and be back on the tip of your power in a few weeks."

Ichigo shrugged. "I guess I'm lucky."

"Or stronger than we thought you were!" The red head crossed her arms as she turned away with a huff. The thought of Ichigo keeping some information about him after this long sort of hurt her a bit.

The Shinigami couldn't help but chuckle as he ruffled the Uzumaki's hair a bit. "There, there Kushina. I'm sorry for worrying you."

Kushina pouted her lips. "Baka! I wasn't worried! Who would be worried about someone like you anyways!"

"You." He replied.

Kushina growled in annoyance as a small blush formed on her cheeks again knowing that it's true.

Ichigo laughed as he decided that it was enough teasing the red head. He looked around the room for a second, wondering where two others were at. "Say, where's Naruto and Sasuke? I thought they came back already."

"Kakashi dropped by about ten minutes before you showed up saying that he needs to speak with the team before leaving. We told them, and they just hurried off." Mikoto informed.

"Ah, I see." He nodded. "By the way, I noticed that Shinobi from other villages are here. ...Is it that time of the year again?"

"Oh, you mean the Chunin Exams? Oh yes, they'll be starting in a few days. Oh, I'm so excited to see my little Naruto become a Chunin." Kushina smiled with stars in her eyes. "My baby is starting to grow up." She sniffed as a little bit of tears fell from her eyes.

"Well, this years Chunin exams sure is going to be interesting by all the familiar young ones I'll be seeing." Ichigo smiled as he thought about all the Genins participating

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 **Now, before you guys say it. Yes, I know. Long wait for a new chapter am I right? It was mainly my lack of interest for the wave arc, so it really unmotivated me to get this done. But, I decided to skip a lot of parts I find useless in my last story. But, yeah. Sorry for the extremely long wait. It wasn't a long chapter like I promised you, and maybe not what you expected. But it sure is something. I'll try to not take as long to update, but it won't be fast either. Maybe once a month hopefully, or twice if I find extra time.**

 **But anyways, thank you all for reading.**

 **Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years!**


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